Of Dogs and Dragons
by Labby01
Summary: In the Muggle town of Newberry, veterinarian, Emilia Reynolds, is mystified by a sudden streak of dog killings. When Charlie Weasley comes into town to try to capture the unknown threat, both of them learn more about life and love than they ever expected
1. Chapter 1

Blood scattered, spreading itself throughout the operating table, onto the ground, and all over the struggling doctor's hands and clothing. A brown-haired woman tried to contain the blood and mend the wound that did not seem to want to heal. It took all of her energy and brainpower to stitch him up, but there wasn't much she could do to save him in the end. The dreadful red substance continued to spread everywhere and she could not figure out what to do to stop it from flowing.

She wondered why there had been so many similar cases and why they had just suddenly started to appear.

It all started about three months ago. First, her patients would come in with wounds like bite marks. She did not think much of them, for there were many creatures that could leave those marks. But in the past week it had gotten significantly worse and by now every one of the patients bore the same symptoms: ragged fur, scorched skin, and bloody wounds. Those were the lucky ones though. They were able to escape to their owner's crying fury. Several of them had turned up missing and she was not naïve. Something was out there. She could hear it late at night… a piercing roar always followed by the whimpering of her favorite kind of creature. Every time she heard that noise, she hugged her own furry critter and held her close.

It was terrible. She had sought after her job to help save these creatures, but now she felt defeated. She could only save but a few, lately. There was some kind of enemy attacking the town's defenseless dogs, and she could barely help.

This deranged pooch that was currently fighting for his life came in with more wounds than she had ever seen. His coat was completely damaged, like someone had set him on fire. There were wounds on every part of his skin and his tiny body shook of pain; he was so scared and so hurt. She could instantly tell that some of his bones were crushed, as with previous cases, and his stomach was a mess, full of disentangled organs. It would take a miracle to cure him and tonight did not seem hopeful.

She fought to keep him free from pain, but in the end death took over his body. He looked helpless, lying motionless on the table and she couldn't help but tear up herself. So many of them had been taken from the world lately, and each one of them affected her even more. She thought that each loss would get easier to handle, but that was just a myth. Each loss became more difficult to handle. Owners had to be careful not to let their dogs out for too long, but it was difficult. For some strange reason, the dogs were escaping more and more these days. Maybe the creature that was attacking them was calling out to the dogs in some way.

What a cruel trick.

The worst part of her job was informing the owner. The owners came in devastated and distraught, and they looked to her to fix everything. She knew most of the dogs and she especially knew this one. She met Champ, a white Maltese, two years ago when she first started her job. He was just a pup then, and he was a sick pup for awhile. He had worms when she first met him, and it took lots of medicine to get him over that. After three months of treatment he was better and she felt successful. Now she had to inform his owner of his passing… after everything that she had been through. It was not an easy job and she hated being the bearer of bad news. That had to be the worst part of the job.

She walked through the hallway, and into the waiting room, which was relatively empty. Even though there were many attacks, they did not all come at once. The small town did not have enough dogs to fill the waiting room and she was sure that the enemy only found one or two victims at a time.

She could see Champ's owner with tear-filled eyes as she walked into the lobby. She instantly responded to the doctor's presence as she entered the room, ready to pay attention.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Reynolds said.

Champ's owner, Sally Martin, allowed her face to collapse into her arms. She was devastated. Her best friend had just been attacked and was now deemed dead, as the doctor's words resounded in her head, "We did everything we could."

Tears washed down Sally's face and she tried to hide her pain. Dr. Reynolds was ready to cry again herself when she saw Sally's tears. But she had to stay strong. No one wanted to see the veterinarian cry. Part of her job was to keep her appearance up in front of saddened owners.

Sally's face perked up and she suddenly felt the need to speak. "I know you did everything you could. It was my fault for letting him get out. I just hope he did not suffer too much."

"We gave him as much pain medication as we could." Dr. Reynolds placed a hand on Sally's shoulder, trying to ease her. She wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but she was supposed to keep that to herself. No one wanted to hear that there was some monster out there. Even though people were suspicious, she was told not to reveal that information. "He did not suffer in the end."

"Thank you," Sally reached out and gave Dr. Reynolds a hug. "For everything."

Dr. Reynolds felt like she let Sally down, but she continued forward. She went to wash up and pack up for the night. It was a long day and an exhausting night of fighting to keep a sick dog alive. And when the battle ended in dreadful consequences, it just made everything worse. She needed to just leave and she needed sleep.

She started to walk out the door, tirelessly and impatiently awaiting the feeling of being in her bed, snuggling her pooch, Taffy, in her arms. That would make her feel better. Her favorite animal in the entire world. The dog who always made her efforts feel worthwhile and meaningful, no matter how depressing the outcome.

She was outside of the door, searching through her purse for her car key, when another presence caught up with her, running to track her down. "Emilia," she heard a voice say, from behind her shoulder.

Emilia instantly stopped walking and turned around to see a blond-haired woman with bright blue eyes chasing after her. "Hi Talia," Emilia answered. Talia was Emilia's co-worker, a Vet Tech, and Emilia's best friend.

"Hey," Talia said in between breaths, catching up to Emilia. "It's been a crappy night. Why don't we go to Teddy's?"

Emilia thought about the offer. Teddy's was the local pub, and Emilia and Talia often went there at night. It was usually Talia's pushing that landed them there, as Emilia could do without drinking right after work.

"I just need to go to sleep," Emilia announced, as she tried to keep her eyes from shutting.

"Exactly," Talia announced. "It will make you feel better. Please."

Emilia tried to sort through her thoughts, and yet she had trouble coming with a valid reason for fighting Talia. Once again, her weak defense system took over, and she agreed. "Oh, alright," Emilia sighed. "Let's go."

---

Charlie Weasley walked sloppily to his supervisor's desk, trying to think of all of the possible reasons that he had wanted to meet with him. He knew it was something bad because that idiot sent him an owl… an owl at his own work to tell him about the confrontation. He could not figure out what he had done wrong, though he knew his boss could possibly blame him for anything.

"Hello," a curly-haired man with pale blue eyes smiled as Charlie took a seat opposite him.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked, wanting to skip the formalities.

"I have a new assignment for you," he announced. Maybe it wasn't so bad. He was getting a new assignment. "There's a dragon loose in the Muggle town of Newberry. I need you to go there and relocate it."

"How did it get there?" Charlie asked first, though that wasn't actually his first concern.

"It escaped from Gringotts," the curly-haired main explained in short and simple terms. Charlie did not expect anything more from him. His boss was a simplistic man, which annoyed Charlie most of the time.

"And why do I have to do it?" Charlie fumed. He was sure someone else could take care of it. He was not in the mood to have to relocate for awhile to hunt down the old dragon from Gringotts. He had other work to do.

"You're going to have to work with Muggles," the man explained, "And given your family…-"

"My dad used to work in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department," Charlie interrupted. "That doesn't mean that I know anything about Muggles."

"You're best suited for that job, and that's that," Charlie's boss scolded. "Now here is the protocol." The man handed Charlie a packet of papers and Charlie briefly looked through them. He then stormed out of the office and went back to his flat to pack.

Soon after packing, Charlie Apparated to the town of Newberry, where the dragon was said to be located. His boss at least set up a hotel room that he could stay in during his unneeded visit. It was a dumpy old shack and Charlie couldn't do anything about it. The whole town was a Muggle town and they would not understand if his room suddenly turned into a palace or even just an ordinary clean room.

He quickly sent an owl off to his parents, telling them that he was in nearby England. He did not suggest that they visit though, for the town was all Muggle. He would just hopefully catch the dragon, and send him back to the bank or wherever they wanted him to go. He would have to look over his papers later.

Charlie started to unpack his clothes, though he left many of his items buried away in his trunk. The only supplies that he actually needed were ones that would help him catch the dragon. He did not need many clothes because he would not be staying for long. At least that was his hope as he left many of his clothes lying in his trunk.

By the time evening came, Charlie started to get hungry. He would have killed for his mother's cooking, but he was also used to not eating the most delectable food. Being on his own taught him about the world of restaurants and take out food. Anytime that he tried to make food himself, it came out looking like dragon's vomit, and it didn't taste much better. That's what he got for working with dragons.

As Charlie's stomach growled of hunger, he decided to search for a place to eat. He figured that he would be staying in this town for a little while. It couldn't hurt to get to know a little about it. However, food was his first priority.

He started to walk through the town's colonial styled streets. Everything looked old fashioned and somewhat beaten up. There were not too many people walking along the streets, as the sun started to fade and the moonlight took over. He wondered how the dragon that he was supposedly trying to capture would hide itself from these people. Dragons typically stayed away from Muggles, so he pondered how the dragon chose this town to reside in.

As he walked past the town's main shopping area, he noticed a forestry, yet mountainous area in the background. Charlie figured that he must be hiding somewhere deep beyond those points, calling out to the town's wildlife. He figured that sheep and goats must be disappearing all the time, and yet Charlie did not notice many sheep or goats in the town. Even though it was old fashioned, it did not seem like a farming town. Everything was too modern and industrialized. Perhaps the dragon was eating some other type of wildlife. He would need to read over his assignment to see what exactly he would be doing.

Charlie passed by a small pub called Teddy's and he decided to try it out. There was a restaurant or two, but he was in the mood for a pub like atmosphere. Muggle alcohol might put him in a better mood. He needed something to make him feel better about being put in such a terrible situation.

He walked into Teddy's and took a seat at a table. He ordered some food and quickly tore through the it, ridding himself of hunger and filling his stomach with pub grub. He then moved himself into the bar and ordered a drink, trying to figure out what Muggle drink would taste most like his favorite, Firewhiskey. He finally picked one on the listed and contented to drink it in the loneliness of the night.

Two drinks later, Charlie decided that he probably should stop, for he did have to work the next day. He would just be content with sitting for bit, just as long as he did not have to return to that dump of a room of his.

As he rejected the bartender's offer of another drink, a blond haired woman took a seat next to him. She looked… as Charlie knew in Muggle terms… like a tramp.

She ordered her drink and then turned to face Charlie. "What is such a cute guy like you doing in a town like this, drinking all alone?" she asked. She then proceeded to put her hand on Charlie's face, turning him closer to her.

"Err…," Charlie was not quite sure what to do. She smelled like beer and he knew that she was acting strange… even for a Muggle. "I was just about to get going." He started to stand up, but then another blonde approached him.

"Oh, don't worry about Irma," she said. The second woman looked as if she had just entered the bar and she looked less like a tramp than Irma. "We don't get many outsiders and she's just excited to try to hit on someone new. To tell you the truth, she looks the look, but she doesn't exactly talk the talk." This second woman intrigued Charlie from her long blond locks, to her radiant blue eyes. She seemed as if she was in ownership of the place. She was confident, yet approachable and charming. Just in seconds, she had made Charlie feel a little bit better about being stuck in a Muggle town by himself.

Charlie smiled and sat back down in his seat. He liked the woman and he was appreciative of her help, as she pushed Irma away from him. "I'm Talia by the way," she announced.

"Charlie," he muttered, sticking his hand out to greet her.

"And this is my friend, Emilia," she said, as a curly haired woman walked hesitantly near Charlie and sat down next to Talia. She had dark curls and blue eyes as well. They were somewhat mysterious though, as if she did not want to reveal much about herself. She was relatively pretty, but she carried herself in a way that made her look not so pretty. She looked as if she was frightened or something and Charlie's mood instantly darkened. He liked Talia, but he didn't want to be stuck talking to her friend, who looked like she was too nervous to say a word.

"So what are you doing here?" Talia asked eager to start a conversation.

Charlie was not paying close attention as his mind began to evaluate the two women and the question caught him off guard. He raised his eyes up in concern and he thought about the answer. "I… uh…," he was having trouble saying exactly what he was doing. How was a Muggle supposed to understand? "Work," he finally decided on, thinking of what his boss would say. It was simple enough.

"Oh," Talia's eyes brightened. "Here in Newberry? What do you do?"

Charlie realized it probably wasn't a good idea to have stayed at the pub. The Muggles were curious. He would have to think of some way to get out of there. "I work with animals," he finally answered. Keeping his answers brief and general was the best thing to do. Maybe his boss was smart about that.

"Really?" Talia was intrigued. Charlie was not. That meant that she would ask more. "Me too. I'm a Vet Tech at the animal hospital. Emilia's a vet. She's amazing."

Charlie looked towards Emilia to see her briefly blush. He couldn't believe that Emilia was a vet. He heard about the Muggle animal doctor role and he thought it must be a pretty demanding job. It must be somewhat similar to healing dragons, which he helped with, and that was not an easy task. Plus, that was done with magic.

Maybe it was not as difficult as he thought. Or maybe he had gotten the wrong impression of Emilia, but first impressions were everything to him and she did not seem like the type of girl with much confidence in anything.

"I…," Charlie paused. "I have to go." He had to leave, before he was questioned anymore. He would have loved to stay and talk with Talia, but she had too many questions… and he did not want to be around Emilia. "Early morning." He stood up and started to leave.

"Well it was nice to meet you," Talia stated. She seemed somewhat disappointed as he rushed to leave.

"You too," Charlie smiled, as he walked outside of the pub, into the loneliness of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

The early morning sun just started to rise above the elegant town of Newberry and the lobby of Newberry Veterinarian Clinic was relatively empty. It was a fairly cool morning and Emilia Reynolds could smell the freshness of the day. The crisp air was intoxicating and the grass smelled newly mowed as another autumn day set in. It was a new start. There had not been any attacks since Champ was killed… at least none that they had known of.

Emilia found her boss, Dr. Kristen Baker, in the front lobby of the clinic, to let her know about the night's incidences. "You look terrible," Dr. Baker said, just as Emilia approached. "Did Talia keep you out late?"

Coincidentally, Emilia yawned at that moment, as if to prove Dr. Baker's point. "Yeah… thanks," she joked. "But I'm fine."

"You better be," Dr. Baker smiled. She was trying to make light of the situation, but Emilia knew that there was some seriousness in her statement. "Anyways, Rosie briefed me about last night. That must have been terrible."

Emilia did not want to be reminded of it. She was already trying to get past another death and she was having trouble, her mind clinging to the memory of little Champ, alone and afraid on the operating table. "Yeah," she said simply, pushing the memory away.

"We're getting something done about it though," Dr. Baker could sense Emilia's sadness. All of the workers at Newberry Vet Clinic felt the same emotions, as they cared tremendously about saving the lives of the innocent animals. "You know how I told you that someone was going to come check it out?"

"Yeah," Emilia answered, anxious to hear what her superior was going to say.

"Well, he's coming today. He should be here in an hour or so." Dr. Baker was pleased to let out the good news. It was what her staff needed to hear. So much bad was going on that just a little glimmer of hope, could enlighten their moods.

Emilia felt relieved. Something was being done to help save the helpless dogs - finally.

Dr. Baker saw Emilia's smile and took that as a satisfied reply. "Well, here's your first chart for the morning. Get some coffee and start making rounds."

Emilia grabbed the chart and looked at it briefly before making any sort of move. She then took Kristen's advice and grabbed some coffee, gulping it down quickly. As soon as she finished her coffee, she went on her way to check on her first patient.

"Bailey," Emilia smiled as soon as she walked into the first room. She rushed towards a large black and tan dog, with floppy ears and an oversized head. His face filled with delight and his tailless butt started to shake. "How's my favorite guy doing?"

Bailey's owner looked towards Emilia. "He's been great," he announced. "And his new diet is definitely working."

"That's wonderful Tom," Emilia answered, relieved to hear some good news. She did notice that Bailey looked about 2 kilograms lighter than she had last seen him. Bailey's weight was always seemed to be the issue. "He's just here for routine shots, right?" Emilia asked, staring at the chart.

"Yep," Tom answered.

Emilia crept towards the back of the room, where a drawer filled with medical supplies resided. She opened the drawer and found a needle and a vaccine. She placed the needle in the vaccine, pushed it, and turned back towards Bailey.

She then squatted down to the floor next to Bailey, petting his short and somewhat prickly dark fur. Tom came to the floor as well, holding Bailey's collar and gently caressing his enormous head.

Emilia quickly inserted the needle into Bailey's neck and then she pulled away. The shot was done before Bailey, and even Tom, noticed.

"That's it?" Tom questioned, surprised that it had been so quick.

"That's it," Emilia cheerfully responded. "Now someone deserves a cookie, don't you think?"

Bailey's floppy ears perked up and stood erect at the sound of the word, "cookie." His entire backside began to sway back and forth once again and his face lit up, overjoyed with happiness.

Emilia took a dog biscuit from the drawer below the medical supplies. She threw the treat up and Bailey caught it midway between the height she threw it at and the ground. She gave Bailey one more pat on the head, before leaving the room to check on her next task.

After walking out of the patient room, Emilia approached the HR (Healing Room). There were several animals in critical condition, most of them being dogs because of the recent attacks. She checked to make sure that they were doing well, and much to her dismay, most of them were not.

As she started to approach one of the sicker dogs, her pager beeped. She quickly ran to the front desk, anticipating the worst. She soon noticed her boss standing next to a familiar face. "Charlie?" Emilia questioned, staring at the relatively tall, yet stocky man with piercing red hair that she had met the previous night. He was relatively attractive, but she was not sure if she liked him very much, and she knew she acted extremely shy in front of him. She was not in the mood to deal with him, not after she had made an idiot of herself in front of him just hours ago.

"You two know each other already?" Dr. Baker smiled, though Emilia was not sure why.

"Not really," Emilia answered. "We just met last night."

"Oh," Dr. Baker sighed. "So you two didn't?" she started to say, but paused.

Emilia realized what she was inferring. "Oh no," she reassured her boss. "We just met. He left before he even explained what he did." Emilia could not understand how Baker could even assume something like that. She realized that Baker did not know her as well as she had thought.

Emilia then remembered Charlie's excuse of leaving from the previous night. He had work early the next morning. Since when was 9:30 early? That must have meant that he did not actually want to talk to them. Or at least, he did not want her there, for not many people avoided Talia. She should have known.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Charlie finally spoke. "Anyways, I'm here to figure out what is happening to the poor dogs." Emilia felt like Charlie was hiding something, though she was not sure what it was. It seemed like his response was half-hearted and she figured that he did not care about the dogs as much as he let on. "Now do you think you could describe the injuries?" Charlie asked, staring at Dr. Baker, obviously hiding his eyes from Emilia.

Taylor turned to Emilia, waiting for her to reply. "They usually look burned," Emilia explained. Charlie focused his eyes on her, since he had too. "Like they were caught in a fire or something. But if you really want to know, we have some dogs that have been attacked in critical condition now. The injuries are just so odd that I don't think I could do justice in explaining them."

"Okay," Charlie responded. "Let's go see them."

"I'm going to leave you two," Baker interrupted. "Reynolds will be much more helpful than me and I should be getting some other work done."

The two walked in silence to the HR. Emilia was annoyed, yet nervous around Charlie and she did not want to stir up a conversation. It's not like she would be good at it anyways. Her and guys just didn't go along very well.

Charlie seemed to be observant, but distant as they walked silently through the clinic's halls. Emilia had never been so quiet, in the company of another, going from one place to the next. She just did not feel comfortable around him, especially after the experience from the previous night. She was not comfortable around many guys, but knowing him from outside of work, just made her suppress her thoughts even more. It annoyed her that she could not speak calmly and rationally with him. Emilia was not sure if he was a decent guy, but she was interested to learn more about him. She had trouble even coming up with one word to say to him.

They finally reached the room of the injured animals, after what seemed like the longest walk in history to Emilia. In the room, there were several cages aligned in a row, each occupied with a single small animal. Some had IVs attached and most had soft pillows and quilts to try to make them as comfortable as possible.

"Do you want to see one of them more closely?" Emilia asked as Charlie's eyes glanced around the room, seeing how the Muggles took care of the sick animals. She finally found her voice again, only because it was work related.

"Yeah," Charlie replied, staring at the array of animals. "Could I see the newest victim?"

Emilia walked towards the cage furthest from the door and Charlie followed close behind. She opened the cage door to reveal a small Hound mix, curled up in a ball, shaking and trembling and attached to an IV. "Just be careful," Emilia explained fearful of Charlie's reaction. "He's very weak and even human contact can harm her."

Charlie did not say a word as he kneeled down to observe the animal. He knew exactly what it was that attacked the dogs, but he did not know why. Dogs were not natural predators of Hungarian Horntails, which made him uneasy. He would not know what to expect. Something unusual was going on. When he looked over the assignment during the night, he realized that the job might be a little harder than he first expected.

His eyes wandered over the dog's scarred skin. There were marks of blood, but he could also see faint marks of green in the wound. "Do they all have this greenish mark along with their wounds?" he asked.

"What greenish mark? Emilia asked, oblivious to what Charlie was talking about.

Charlie realized his mistake. She was a Muggle. She most likely would not see a greenish mark. Still, she came closer to Charlie, kneeling next to him to observe the dog.

"Never mind," he said, so she did not think he was crazy.

"Okay?" Emilia questioned, unsure as to what Charlie was doing. He continued to thoroughly examine the dog, though to Emilia's relief, he did not touch her. At least he was a good listener, if he wasn't the nicest person.

"So what exactly do you do?" Emilia was suddenly curious. The question popped out of her mouth, before she even thought about it.

Charlie transitioned his attention back towards Emilia. He seemed to think about his answer for quite awhile before finally answering. "I'm an Animal Officer," he quickly thought of, referring to the Muggle Police Officer.

"An Animal Control Officer?" Emilia corrected him. "And where are you from?" she could not believe the questions flying from her mouth. It was like she knew there was something wrong with this guy, and she had to figure it out. It was for the animal's sake. Yeah, that's what it was.

"Devon," Charlie quickly answered, thinking of his parent's home.

"They sent you all the way here?"

"I'm the most qualified person, okay?" Charlie seemed annoyed. "Now do you think you could answer some questions?"

Emilia felt ashamed. There she was, questioning his intentions and he just wanted to work. "Okay," Emilia answered, feeling a bit less confident then before.

"When did these attacks first start?" Charlie asked.

"About three months ago," Emilia answered. "But there were only a few at first. Within the past week it's gotten significantly worse."

"And do dogs like that usually recover?" Charlie asked, referring to the Hound mix.

"Rarely," Emilia pouted. "Not ones that bad. Sometimes they seem to be getting better, but they break out in a fever and they…" Emilia paused. "They don't make it."

"Okay," Charlie announced. "I think that should do. I'll check it out and see what to do."

"Okay," Emilia said. She was thinking about asking Charlie if he needed to know anything else. At the last second, she backed out of it, as her questions had already started to annoy him.

Charlie started to leave the HR, while Emilia stayed behind to see what she could do for the injured animals. As Charlie left the room, she heard Talia entering for her shift. She just happened to run into Charlie. Emilia peaked her head out of the door to listen to their conversation.

"Charlie?" Emilia could hear Talia's voice, questioning the logic of Charlie being there. "Oh, you really do work with animals?"

"Yeah," Charlie answered, with little emotion. He didn't seem to be the most thrilling of guys.

"What are you doing here?" she proceeded to question him. Emilia was grateful to hear Talia's questions. She wanted to learn more about Charlie as well and she had already asked enough questions to annoy him. There was no way that her shy self would be asking him anything else, non-work related.

"I was called in to figure out what's going on with the dogs," he explained, not adding in any extra detail.

"Oh," Talia's voice was perky and enthused. "You should talk to Emilia. She's the first one that noticed this pattern. She should be able to help out."

Emilia could feel herself blush, for some odd reason. Talia promoted her all too often and she became cheerful any time she did. "I already did," Charlie simply said. It was clear that he just wanted to get going. Talia did not seem to take his hint.

"Oh," she said. "Well, I'm sure she was helpful. Now what do you say about getting dinner tonight? I'm done at 7, and I would sure appreciate the company of a guy as handsome as yourself for once."

Talia was always good at that kind of stuff. There she was, after knowing Charlie for barely a conversation, and she was already asking him to dinner. Emilia was always jealous of the way she did that. She could never talk to guys like that. In fact, she had only had one serious relationship ever. For a 25 year old, she knew that was not healthy.

Charlie did not answer right away. Emilia could not see them, but she figured that he probably looked somewhat perplexed. Talia could do that to anyone. There was no way he was expecting her to ask him to dinner. "Erm..," he was trying to figure out what to say. Finally, he said, "Sure."

Emilia's heart sank down into her chest, annoyed at herself for not being able to do something as brave and bold as that. Talia put herself out there, and she was successful. Emilia wanted that. She wanted to be able to talk to guys in a mature and caring way. Unfortunately the only guy that she could talk to like that was in the furry variety. Perhaps, also of the brothering nature, but despite that she could not even address a fatherly figure in a confident manner. Hers was too drunk most of the time to even acknowledge that she existed. That relationship ended years ago, as soon as she entered college.

"Well, great," the cheeky blond said, "I'll meet you at Luciello's at say, 7:30," she declared, knowing that Charlie would not have any place to suggest for dinner. "It's this great Italian place, right near Teddy's. You should be able to find it."

"See you then," Charlie answered before leaving the building.


	3. Chapter 3

Charlie stared at his newly purchased Muggle watch, making sure that he was not going to be late for his unexpected date. Talia's question about dinner caught him off-guard, but as soon as he regained his composure, he happily agreed to the awkward outing. He was stuck in the town after all, so he had might as well make the most of it. At least Emilia wouldn't be around and he could concentrate on Talia's quirky demeanor. It was then that Charlie realized that she was actually quite interesting.

Charlie had spent most of the day trying to figure more out about the dragon that was doing so much harm to the town. It was not natural for dragons to attack dogs, and a Hungarian Horntail typically feasted on goats and sheep. Even if those animals were not around, humans were the natural second choice of the Horntail. Even though Charlie knew it was a terrible thought, he would have preferred it if this attack was on humans. At least that would make sense and he could solve the mystery a lot easier. Now, with the unknown, he was not sure what to do.

As confident a man as he was, Charlie did not just want to approach the dragon without any knowledge of what he was doing. He was starting to collect information and research, but there was nothing that he could find. He had several books scattered around the dump of a room that he was in, yet nothing led him to the answer that he was searching for. Even though he liked adventures at times, he knew that he had to be prepared to confront a fully grown dragon, who guarded the bank for most of his life. It was not an easy task and he had to figure out just the right steps to relocate the creature.

The confused redhead finally pushed the books to the side, realizing that it was time to meet up with Talia. He started to tear apart his trunk, trying to find something suitable to wear. _So much for not unpacking _he mused to himself, still searching frantically for something, and at that point anything.

Charlie was not exactly sure if Talia expected the dinner to be a date, so he did not know what to wear. He tried on several different outfits, and he was not satisfied with just one look. He was not used to dressing up, and most of his clothes were torn and tattered. He had not been on a date in at least a year and he had no nice clothes to show off. Even if he did, he left them at home because he was not planning on staying long enough to get to know anyone. Who knew that he would have a date within a day of visiting the town? Were Muggles really that desperate?

He soon found a plain white shirt that he decided to try on. He tore his previous shirt off, and replaced it, standing in front of the mirror, observing the fit. After about three seconds, he tore the white shirt off, realizing that it made him look too scruffy. Even though it did not have holes, it was not particularly pleasing to look at, and it made him look like he had not showered for several days.

Charlie soon found another shirt that was not completely torn and he threw it on. It was probably not ripped or ruined because it was one of his Muggle shirts that he rarely wore. The shirt was bright red, which made his vibrant mane of red hair stick out, even more than it already did. That was not exactly how he wanted to appear whilst walking into a nice restaurant, attracting every Muggle eye to him. He needed to blend in, but having red hair and a red shirt, that was not just red, but fire-engine red, did not help. Just the red hair alone did it, but he was used to that. The equally flamboyant shirt just added to the overall effect, which made him sure that every person was sure to stare at him.

Finding pants was a little easier than finding a shirt. He had some pants that his father had given him during Christmas. They were relatively new, and again, he did not wear them to work. They would have to do. 

His eyes then glanced at the mirror, and he felt disgusted with himself. It was his first possible date in nearly a year and he was not wearing the nicest of clothes. His hair was also out of control, and he used his hand to try to tame the mess better. He contemplated changing his clothes once more, as he brushed his hand through his hair, but then he caught a glimpse of the time and he figured that he had to leave.

Charlie ran out of the door, trying to make it to town in time, and in the midst of doing so noticed that it was quite a chilly evening. He hadn't had time to try to find a jacket amongst his things, especially because he did not think he actually had one. Staring down at himself, Charlie realized why he never used Muggle clothing too much. It was just simply hideous!

Besides the chill, the evening was rather lovely. There was a calm to the night, making Charlie forget that there was such a danger, probably just miles away from the calming center of town that he soon came upon.

As soon as Charlie reached the center of town, he glanced around, looking for Luciello's. It only took seconds before the neon sign with the words –_ A Taste of Italy _– written beneath the Luciello name, came into view. He walked towards the lit up restaurant and he waited to see a sign of the eloquent blonde.

Within minutes, Talia arrived, dressed in a jean skirt and a black tank top. She was decorated with an assortment of Muggle jewelry, which seemed a bit odd to Charlie. He was not a big fan of jewelry to begin with, but the way that Muggles wore it, seemed a bit over done. He tried not to stare too much at the designs that Talia wore, but he realized his eyes became entranced in the unique arrangement that she wore them in.

Talia looked absolutely stunning and Charlie felt miserable that he was dressed so poorly. His appearance did not seem to affect Talia though. "You're so handsome," she stated.

"So are you," Charlie answered, immediately realizing that the statement hadn't come out right. Talia just smiled at his mistake and he decided not to correct himself.

Charlie then saw Talia's arm extending out and he figured that she wanted him to take her arm to escort her in. He reached in closer to take her arm, but as soon as he did, she moved her arm closer to her body, like she never really wanted his escort in the first place. He swooped his arm towards her and then he ended up moving it back towards his body again. He checked to see if she noticed his awkward motion, and she did seem to, though she did not say anything.

"P-perhaps we co-should go inside," Charlie stumbled on his words as his nervousness led to his even more awkward wording.

Inside, Charlie did not feel as out of place as he would have thought. Even though the restaurant was somewhat elegant, most people were not dressed up too much. It also seemed like Talia knew everyone inside, as she greeted just about everyone that they walked past.

They finally sat down at a table that was towards the back of the restaurant. The table was covered with a pearly white table cloth, and there was a white candle in the center of the table, with a collection of flowers nearby. All Charlie knew about the flowers was that they were a pinkish-red color. He was not very observant as far as names went, even if they happened to be wizard flowers.

At first he started to stare into the flowers, avoiding Talia's gaze. His heart raced as he tried to think of something to say and something to do that would make everything less stressful and less awkward.

Eventually, his eyes focused more on the restaurant, still avoidant of Talia. The lights were dimmed and Charlie realized that this was probably supposed to be a date. _Way to go, _he thought to himself as his realization came fully in tune. The bloody place was so fancy and it was obvious that Talia spent a good amount of time getting ready, "This place is beautiful," Charlie finally said.

"Yeah," Talia smiled feebly, finally feeling nervous herself, "I'm sorry if this seems a bit rushed - me taking you to such a nice place and all, it's just that not many new people come here, and I wanted to catch you before you were gone." It was then that she realized she was rambling on, and for the first time she attempted to stop herself.

"That's fine," Charlie answered, sort of smirking at the fact that she had gotten slightly nervous. He found it quite odd to live in a place with relatively few strangers. He wasn't sure if he would like or hate living in a place like Newberry, "How did you come to live in a place like this?" Charlie was suddenly curious, as Talia did not seem like the small town type of person. And besides, it was the perfect opportunity for Charlie to make small talk and at the same time be interested in what she was all about.

"Oh, I grew up here," Talia answered as a waitress came by to take their drink orders. Talia's eyes lingered on Charlie for a moment before she actually realized the woman's presence. Coughing to redeem herself, she then continued speaking, as she opened her menu to start searching for what she wanted to order, taking her eyes away from the man across from the table for what felt like the first time that night, "I went to college and I just found myself back here after I graduated. I like the small town charm most times, but occasionally it gets boring."

"That makes sense," Charlie stated, staring intently at his menu, trying to figure out what Linguini was, and at the same time clearly avoiding the gaze as his brother Bill had taught him so many times before. _If you think you're gonna embarrass yourself, find the nearest scapegoat, _he mused to himself as he figured that the menu at the moment was the scapegoat, "And you and Emilia grew up here together?" It sounded sort of awkward to Charlie that those words had actually come from his mouth. And about _her _of all people. Charlie was suddenly curious about their friendship. Them as friends just did not seem to add up.

"No," Talia answered, still sort of fixated on her menu, throwing Charlie random glances in and out of conversation, "Emilia grew up in a big city. She went to college and Vet school and she just wanted to get away from the big city life. She didn't want to get lost in the crowd and Newberry attracted her. We met two years ago when she started working at the Animal Hospital." After speaking about Emilia, Talia's attention was averted to Charlie's question as it was the first time that she had felt awkward about talking about Emilia. Perhaps if he wasn't so good looking, she wouldn't have minded, but his sudden interest in her friend had taken her by surprise.

"You two just seem really close," Charlie was amazed at what she had said about the time that they met, "I didn't realize you've only known each other for two years." Charlie considered his friends at Hogwarts, whom he had known since diaper age, plus the fact that they lived together for seven years, which added to their bond and tested their friendship. Talia and Emilia seemed just as close and he did with those friends, which was rather strange.

"Emilia's really an amazing person," Talia started to brag about her again, as the green monster of jealousy settled within her stomach after a short time of consideration. After all Emilia was her friend, and something silly like a good looking red-headed stranger wasn't going to rupture their friendship that easily.

Charlie did not understand it when she praised Emilia so much from what he had seen. But Talia continued, "I wasn't sure about her at first because she wasn't too open about herself, but after watching her work, I realized what a wonderful person she is. She really cares and she's truly passionate about her work. I don't think Kristen could get along without her now." There it was again. That element of surprise about the girl, but at the same time that strange feeling of satisfaction with her.

That was much more of a response than Charlie was expecting. Talia was committed to her friendship with Emilia. He could deal with that and he somewhat admired it. He would have to figure out a way to get along with her if anything happened between him and Talia. It was painfully obvious that he was starting to like her more and more as the night progressed, and his sharp pangs of consideration about Emilia melted away every time he looked into Talia's crystal blue eyes.

The waitress came around to take their orders, breaking the soothing, yet awkward silence that had fallen between them for the moment. It was one that Charlie wasn't really used to, but alluring enough that he didn't want it to stop. The waitress's voice broke the spell that he had been in, as Talia ordered and Charlie decided to play it safe, by ordering the same thing as Talia - lasagna. At least that was something that he had heard of before and he wouldn't have to risk embarrassing himself in front of her.

It still shocked Charlie how much he was taking this Muggle girl's opinion about him into so much consideration that it was altering his actions. She definitely had him wrapped around her finger, but at the moment, Charlie wasn't about to let her know that. He was not sure what could happen with the romance and he wanted to take time to figure it out, before committing into what his feelings were telling him to do.

The waitress left, leaving Charlie unable to think of a topic to stir up a conversation. He suddenly realized how little he knew about Talia and how little he knew of Muggles. However, he couldn't just ask her what he thought about this season's Quidditch lineup, which happened to put his favorite Chudley Cannons in a disadvantage again, and he could not ask about her time at Hogwarts. Everything that he seemed to want to talk about involved magic, which was something that she'd know nothing about, as much as he might want her to. Maybe he should have listened to his father more when he showed interest in Muggle activities. It would have helped him in this instance.

"Emilia's just pretty shy," Talia noticed the silence and decided to continue the topic, the monster completely gone from her system as she kept reciting in her head_ just a man, just a man. _

That was the last thing Charlie wanted to hear. He still was not impressed with Talia's so-called best friend.

"She loves animals, but she doesn't do people very well. It took about a month before she opened up to me. But once she does open up for you, she's an interesting person."

Charlie could not imagine her as being interesting, but he took Talia's word for it. He was not going to fight her. She had a weird best friend, but that didn't mean that anything was wrong with her. For some reason, Charlie was quite interested in Talia, even though he did not know her very well. Maybe he was interested in her because she was so different.

"You don't seem to like her, do you?" Talia questioned, sensing his tension whenever Emilia's name was mentioned in conversation.

Charlie was not sure how she figured that one out. He had made no mention or no gesture that could lead her to that conclusion. She had just figured it out. "No, I like her," Charlie lied. He did not elaborate much.

"Liar," Talia demanded, playfully, "You haven't said much about her and you act strange when I talk about her."

Talia wasn't stupid. She must have had some type of psychological knowledge that made her good at analyzing people because she sure saw right through him. He could not admit to it though, which was fair enough, "I just thought I was here to talk about you… not her." That was a good answer. Charlie figured that he saved himself.

Talia did not seem to accept his answer, but she moved on, as secretly her curiosity grew about what exactly had happened between Emilia and him when they were left alone at the hospital that day. "So what do you want to know about me?" she asked.

"Why don't you already have a boyfriend?" Charlie asked simply. He wasn't completely interested, but it was a question. He just wanted to deviate from the Emilia subject line, which grew more and more uncomfortable over time.

"I haven't found the right guy," Talia answered, sort of side glancing at him as she said it, "Like I said, there's not much to this town and I've dated most of them. No one interests me. It's like that for most of the girls here. That's why Irma clung to you the first day. That's why I couldn't let you go without even getting dinner with you." 

"Oh," Charlie started to realize how depressing the town was. In Romania he mostly hung around the people he worked with, but they were fun people. Maybe Emilia was as fun as Talia got. In that case, Charlie couldn't help but wonder why Talia still lived in Newberry.

The meal soon came and Charlie and Talia ate away at their food. It was quite good and Charlie could not remember having a better meal in the last several weeks.

The conversation soon became less intense, as Charlie and Talia focused more on their likes, rather than Emilia or Talia's depressing life. Charlie tried to explain about his work, without giving away what he actually did, and Talia listened with admiration. Somehow he had explained his job in an intriguing way to her. That was not his intention. "It's really not that exciting," he said, curious as to why she thought it was so interesting, "I bet you have loads more excitement at your work."

"But it just seems so awesome," Talia debated. "You don't know what to expect, but you jump right in. You could be up against a dangerous dog, yet you walk right into it, without even thinking that he could attack you. Everything's just spur of the moment."

Charlie thought about that and realized that Talia made a good argument. He should be just spur of the moment, like she thought he was. He had already studied so much about the dragon, why couldn't he just go meet him? He knew a little bit about what to expect, and he could figure it out from there.

The meal soon finished, and Charlie became more preoccupied with his decision to meet the dragon. He did not pay much attention to what Talia had to say after that. As the two left the restaurant, Talia seemed to expect a little something more. Charlie was a reasonable guy and even though there was some awkwardness, everything seemed to go relatively well between the two of them. Most guys she knew would take the next step at that point, yet Charlie was not like that.

Charlie decided to kiss her quickly on the cheek, before running off back to his place. He liked Talia and he did want to learn more about her, but he was too preoccupied with work. He would be able to ask her out at another time, but the reason he came to Newberry was for the dragon. He had to do some work, and there would be time for Talia later.

---

The night was still quite chilly, so Charlie put on an extra cloak, as he prepared to find out more about the Gringott's dragon. He studied all he could, but he just needed to confront the beast. Nothing else could prepare him for what he was going to see.

Going at night was the best idea. That's when the dragon came to life and when he took most of his victims. Charlie would be able to see up close what he did.

He walked through the forest of the town, as he listened to the dragon's fiery roar. He realized that the Muggles probably would not be able to hear that roar, which at least put him at some kind of advantage. The dragon was used to not being seen or heard by anyone. Now, Charlie would be right there.

Charlie wore dark robes, and the cloak he brought along with him was dark as well. At some point he would be going to capture the dragon, but not tonight. All he could do tonight was try to blend in. Under the darkened sky, black robes were the best thing he could think of to blend in.

He kept walking through the forest. Charlie was usually brave, but this forest creeped him out. All he could hear, besides the roar of the dragon, was the sound of leaves, wavering by in the darkness. The wind was rather calm, yet every time it seared through, Charlie noticed. The leaves and branches of the trees gave him that cue.

About ten minutes into his walk, Charlie felt something press against his skin. He jumped up in terror, thinking that there was only one thing that was alive and able to press against him in the night. Luckily for him, he was wrong, for the dragon did not touch him, but a swaying branch had.

After that, he grew more careful. He walked slower, making sure that there was nothing unusual in his path. Even though the branch was not a dragon, it easily could have been. He needed to be more careful.

Several minutes later, Charlie realized that he would not accidentally stumble across the dragon, for he was not trying to hide. The dragon was surrounded by a light of fire that he had obviously made for himself, just resting in the brush of the forest.

Charlie was appreciative that the dragon decided to make himself obvious. That would make it easier for him.

Charlie found a bush that he decided to hide behind. The location was perfect to spy on the dragon throughout the night. He made himself comfortable, observing everything he could about the dragon.

The first thing he noticed was that the dragon's eyes were a milkily pink color. He had read that the dragon had been locked up in the bank for most of his life, so it did not surprise Charlie. That meant that the dragon was most likely blind or at least, half-blind.

The scales of his coat were pale and flaky, unlike some of the Hungarian Horntails that he had worked with in the past. He still had the usual horned tail, but it looked as if some of the horns weren't as sharp as they should have been. They were a little bent and not perfectly shaped.

The first time the dragon moved his head, Charlie noticed a greenish coloring near his mouth. It was just like the greenish substance he saw on the dog that was injured. It was not usual for a greenish glob to be on a dragon. Dragon spit was clear-colored and so was dragon snot. Their blood was red or blue in some areas, and their vomit looked similar to human vomit, just in bigger amounts. There was nothing green that should be coming from him, which was what puzzled Charlie the most. He had to figure out what it was.

When the green glob around the face, started to turn into drool, leaking down his face, Charlie noticed the dragon started to stand up. He was getting ready to do something and Charlie feared what it might be. 

An enormous roar came from the dragon, and Charlie crouched down in the bushes at the sound. He tried to remain still behind the bushes, hoping that the dragon would not notice.

Minutes later, a black and tan dog came running. He had floppy ears and he seemed to have quite a large blocky head. The dog ran past Charlie, but Charlie would not let him go. He stopped the dog from rushing to the dragon, holding him back. He couldn't willingly let the dog confront the dragon. The dog was extremely strong, but Charlie was used to working with dragons, so even a large dog was not too difficult for him to contain in his arms.

The dragon noticed that no creature was coming. He let out another piercing roar, and the dog Charlie was holding, fought ferociously to be freed. The roar must have been enough for just the dogs to hear. It was some type of magical roar that the dragon used and Charlie was not surprised to see him using it. Many dragons did that in order to search for food.

Again, Charlie was able to hold the large dog back. But soon, another dog approached. He was a large dog as well, and Charlie did not know anything about Muggle dogs, so he did not know that it was a Labrador Retriever mix. All he knew was that it was a black dog, and that he did not have enough hands to hold that one back as well.

The only thing he could do was hold back the one dog, trying to save his life. He could not look, when the black dog approached. He was not a huge dog lover, but to see any creature killed was not something that he enjoyed watching. Anything with a brain had emotions and feelings. The poor dog was about to be eaten alive.

Charlie winced as he heard a whimper coming from the dog as it was being attacked. He could not stand watching anymore, as more barks and moans continued to fill the forest, creating that noise that makes little kids afraid of going into the forest at night. Charlie dragged the black and tan dog back through the forest, pushing him and guiding him through the curved path. It was not a particularly difficult task since the dog no longer wanted to confront the dragon, after seeing him tear apart the other unbeknownst victim. Maybe Charlie saved one life, but he could not safe another. He felt ashamed of himself.

Once out of the forest, he let the black and tan dog go, hoping he would find his owner. Charlie then walked alone on the darkened road, searching for his shack to return to. He could feel tears bottled up inside of him, and he felt them start to flow down his cheeks. Though he had seen some animals die because of his lovely dragons, seeing an innocent dog killed, or rather, just hearing the whimpers of the defenseless creature got to him. He needed to figure out what was going on. This job was not as easy as he thought it was going to be, but he would figure it out. _Anything to save the dogs,_ he remembered her saying as the words resounded in his head.

Maybe Emilia was right.


	4. Chapter 4

"The Peterson's dog is missing," Emilia cornered Talia and announced as soon as Talia walked in for the start of her shift. Talia had not even had the chance to put her things down before she felt that first terrible feeling of the morning. Dread filled her body as she realized that there was probably another victim of an unknown threat. "And Bailey disappeared for awhile last night, but he returned later, unhurt. Tom said that Bailey's a little more solitary today. He seems afraid of something."

"That's odd," Talia tried to sort through her thoughts. She was not sure what it all meant.

"Do you think that he could have seen the attack?" Emilia then asked anxiously. "Maybe he saw Dexter being attacked and he ran away."

"I don't know," Talia answered awkwardly. "You're the dog expert." Talia did not mean to be rude, but she did not have the answer. She could not help Emilia in the way that she wanted. She wanted to able to answer her with full reassurance that she understood everything that was going on, but she could not. And she would not lie about that.

"Wait a second," Talia suddenly noticed a weird pattern in her friend's demeanor. "How long have you been working? I never saw you leave last night and you're here today before me."

"I left," Emilia quickly replied. "Baker said I can come and go as I please. I'm just trying to figure this all out."

"But you need to sleep," Talia replied, worry growing in her voice, "You're not going to figure anything out if you don't sleep." Talia knew that with a threat like this Emilia wasn't going to rest easy, but she needed to try. With no sleep she could become careless in other ways, even if she was only doing it to help.

"I told you I left," Emilia insisted, with added pressure in her tone. "It was later than you, but I left. Now how was your date last night?" Emilia hastily changed the subject of the conversation, as she did not feel like explaining herself any more than she had to a questioning Talia.

The confused blond noticed Emilia's trickery of subject changing, but she did not further question her. She was worried that Emilia was working for too many hours, but she would have to get some more evidence before fighting further. "It was okay," Talia finally answered. "He just seemed a bit odd." 

"Odd?" Emilia questioned, wanting to know all of the details.

"Yeah," Talia answered. "Like he was hiding something. And he seemed to not be paying full attention to me. I highly doubt there's going to be a second date." Even though Talia did not think the date was terrible, she realized over the course of the night, that Charlie was not someone she wanted to fight for.

"I'm not too fond of him either," Emilia smiled sincerely. She seemed relieved that Charlie and Talia's relationship was not strong, even though she wanted her friend to be happy. "Did Charlie say anything about what he was doing to catch the creature?" Emilia then asked, relieved to be able to talk to Talia about details that she would never ask Charlie herself.

"No," Talia answered. She realized that during the awkward moments of silence, that would have been a good topic to bring up. She was curious about what he was doing.

"Well, maybe you can give him a call," Emilia suggested. "I want to know how the search is going."

"I never got his number," Talia suddenly realized. "And he never asked me for mine. That's odd."

"Well, maybe Baker will know," Emilia shrugged it off.

"I'll go ask her," Talia decided. She picked up all of her belonging, and before heading to Baker, she locked mostly everything away, in the staff room.

Minutes later, she hesitantly approached her boss, trying to determine if she was busy or not. She seemed to be occupied with a pile of papers, but Talia decided to ask anyways. "Dr. Baker?"

Baker did not turn around right away. He face was studying some type of sheet, and Talia was not quite sure if Baker had heard her. She decided to wait about a minute, but before that minute ended, Baker turned around to see Talia facing her. "Yes, Talia?" she asked, somewhat looking down upon her. She was Talia's boss, but usually she did not talk that way for her, but Talia figured it was just because she was busy.

"I was just wondering if you have Charlie's number? Emilia and I want to know if he's done anything about our problem yet."

"Are you sure that's why?" Dr. Baker smiled, her face filled with a gesture that was opposite of that previous boss-like demand. "Or do you have another reason as well?"  
Talia rolled her eyes. Dr. Baker was always implying things to find out more about her personal life. At first, it was kind of cute, but by now it had gotten a little bothersome. She wasn't the most professional of bosses, even if she could be at times. "No," Talia answered briefly, keeping with a serious expression.

"Okay," Dr. Baker answered. She hesitated for a moment, searching through some papers looking for a number from a certain red-headed man. "You know, I don't think I have his number. He just came by yesterday, saying that he was there to fix our problem. He didn't say much about himself."

"Well, do you know where he's staying at least?" Talia was curious, as she tried to build on her good relationship with her boss to find out more.

"No, I don't think so. Next time he comes in, we'll figure it out."

"Okay," Talia said. She then grabbed a chart and she went off to do some work. That was why she was there after all, even if she would have preferred to talk about Charlie all day. No, she did not like him!

After observing her first patient, a ferret who was having his initial exam, Talia's pager went off, calling her to the ER. She dashed off, afraid of what she was going to see. She knew how terrifying that room was as of lately. 

Inside, Emilia was there, along with Dr. Baker. On the operating table was Buster, a Hound Mix, who had been attacked about a week ago. He had been weak, fighting for his life. Now, it seemed like he was ready to give up.

Talia rushed over to help, but by the time she came, it was too late. The poor dog was dead and she was standing over his body. She felt heavy emotion piling through her, but she held that in as she saw Emilia storm out of the room.

Talia quickly followed, worried about Emilia. Emilia eventually settled down in her office and Talia sat in the chair across from her.

There were tears in Emilia's eyes and her face was red with worry. As soon as she noticed Talia, she spoke. "I can't take this much longer," she sobbed. "You know Buster has a sister, right?"

"Yes," Talia said, thinking of the Hound mix that typically came in with Buster. The two were inseparable. It was Buster's sister that saved him to that point as well. She barked until her owner noticed that Buster was outside of the door, injured.

"Sophie has been depressed since the attack," Emilia explained through backed up sobs. "She hasn't been happy at all. Her owner's words are so hard to hear."

"I know it's hard," Talia declared simply, letting Emilia tore through her feelings.

"And what if something happens to Taffy? Besides you, she's the only thing in my life that makes sense. And I've only had her for a little while."

"Charlie will figure it out before anything happens," Talia declared, now sure of herself because she had to be for her friend. "Don't worry."

"But you said yourself that something's off about Charlie. I don't think he's going to do anything."

"I think there's something unusual about him, but I think he'll do his job," Talia demanded, even more sure of herself. "Now, Em, look at me." Emilia lifted her face up to look at Talia. "It will all work out. Don't worry."

Emilia's eyes perked up, resting on Talia's expressive eyes. "Thanks Talia," she said, feeling a little better.

Talia gave Emilia a hug, before leaving to do more work. Her words had comforted Emilia, but she was not sure if they comforted her. She had no clue if Charlie would do his job or not. That was just one of that things that she found odd about him.

---

The afternoon was foggy. There were dense groups of clouds making it difficult to see and the temperature was quite chilling. It could not be the Dementors. They had disappeared several months ago and the weather had been more static since then. This seemed to just be specialized in the one area of town. The area where few traveled and where innocent lives were lost. The area, where a creature so fierce lived, that he did not even know his own strength.

Charlie Weasley was one of the few that ventured into that forbidden forest. He was one of the few that knew the truth of its evils and wanted to explore the mystery deeper. Or at least he was the one assigned to find out the true explanation.

With each step, he walked delicately and peacefully. Now it was light outside. Now, even though the forest was filled with light, but foggy skies, Charlie had to be careful. Because for some reason, Charlie knew that the fog was the dragon's doing. And if the fog was the dragon's doing, then the dragon would be able to see him if he was not careful.

With a raised wand, Charlie walked slowly towards the path of the dragon. He put a Silencing Charm around himself, so that he did have one advantage. He would have loved to have borrowed the cloak that his brother, Ron, bragged so effortlessly about. The cloak that his brother's best friend, Harry Potter, owned, the cloak of infinite invisibility, the one that had saved them so many times on their adventures together. Yeah, that would have helped him sneak up on a dragon. But he did not have that cloak.

Charlie continued to walk, slowly with hesitancy, listening and looking for any sign of the dragon. After years of working with dragons, his auditory senses started to decline, listening to several piercing roars a week, and even having some unfortunate incidences where his ears caught on fire. Luckily, his vision was still accurate and he had developed some extraordinary sense of smell during his first year in training in Romania. He could now easily recite all of the ways that the scent of a Horntail was different from a Ridgeback.

When Charlie finally reached the bush that he hid behind the previous day, he felt more at ease. Now, he could do his job. He could study the day life of the dragon. That would help.

The first thing that Charlie noticed was the nails of the creature. They were extremely long, and the ends were even curling. It looked painful. Charlie knew it was not a natural thing. Cutting nails was something that he had experienced several times, especially during those first years at his job. Most dragons held in captivity did not have the necessary means to keep their nails trimmed, like those in the wild. This one must have been in so much pain and anguish that he could not keep his nails healthy. Or maybe he forgot how to do it. Trapped in a bank for so many years could make anyone forget the basic needs, human or not.

The ethics of keeping a dragon locked away for so many years was horrifying to Charlie. He wondered who approved it. And he wondered how any dragon keeper could willingly let the Ministry take one of their beloved dragons, to spend a life of seclusion and darkness.

It was not natural. Dragons needed to move, not to be chained down. They were social creatures as well. Keeping a dragon away from everything was torture. They needed friends just to learn how to interact with one another. This dragon was dangerous, purely because of the Ministry. Charlie was positive that if the dragon had not been locked up for so many years, he would not be so violent. He would not be killing the town's dogs.

People never thought of the dragons. In all of the fairy tales he heard, the dragon was the terrible beast. The ugly, fire-breathing creature from hell, who was the enemy. But that was because of people. Hydra would never have attacked Hercules so fiercely if Hercules did not attack first. Dragons don't want to get into trouble. They are like every other predator. They kill for food. They attack in danger. They act crazy, when put in terrible situations. Is that not any different from a human being? Harry Potter himself would kill in a threatening situation. Harry Potter killed the Darkest Wizard of all time in a threatening situation. How was a dragon any different?

Charlie then saw the milkily pink eyes of the dragon, staring right at him. He stayed perfectly still. There was a chance that the stare wasn't a threat. The dragon was still half-blind.

But then he felt the heat approach his face. He had felt it so many times before that it did not truly faze him. It just made him realize that the dragon could in fact see him.

And he got closer. He was standing right in front of Charlie's face and Charlie's blood was pumping quickly, as his heart raced. He was not in a good position. He could run, but it would not be fast enough. He could say an assortment of spells, but he was not ready to take the dragon down yet. That would involve more people. Loads more people.

Adrenaline rushed through his system, alerting him that the situation was dangerous. Still, he did not move. He was frozen in time, taking a glance at the dragon up close. He stared in wonder, his mouth wide open with surprise.

The dragon swooped his wing towards Charlie, pushing him out of the way, causing Charlie's mind to ease back into consciousness. That was usually a dragon's first offensive move – a way to weaken the enemy.

Charlie felt himself flying through the air, again another sensation that he had felt before, though only once – a rookie mistake. He then felt himself falling, along with being scorched with more fire directed towards his most vulnerable spot – his face. As he was falling towards the ground, he tried to think clearly, for there was only one way to get out of that situation, and even so it was a rare possibility.

But he had to try. He had to try because he had just found out the secret of the dragon at that very moment. Everything was so clear to him. Because he noticed that the dragon – he was not a he. And she was not just a she. She was protecting an egg that was clearly hers.


	5. Chapter 5

He continued focusing on the childhood home that he had grown accustomed to. The place that was always cramped, and never lonely. The warm, delectable smell of his mother's cooking and the constant chatter of his brothers and lonesome sister. With his deepest desires, he hoped he would be able to concentrate on his exit strategy. He was burned and ready to fall towards doom, and he needed to leave. He needed to concentrate on Apparating, but he did not know if he could do it because he was so weak.

But he eventually did. He opened his eyes, moments after his fall, which had been marked with pain and bruises, staring out at a familiar setting. He glanced upward, looking at the front door of his childhood home. It was exactly like he remembered, the warm, familiar feeling looming in front of his hazy blue eyes.

His pulse decreased and he managed to resume a normal heart rate. His face was scarred and several bones in his lower limbs were broken, but they would heal, with just a bit of magic. Seeing that door made him feel instantly better.

Charlie limped over, carrying the heavy burden of his weight with him, as the chemicals inside his body slowed down his heart beat. As he knocked on the door, he felt his mother rush him inside.

"Charlie!" she screamed, her blue eyes filled with panic.

Just hearing her voice took away Charlie's remaining pain. She was a wonderful mum, and her voice reminded him of so many wonderful memories of his childhood.

Molly urged him inside, quickly and swiftly, clearing the couch off from him to lie down on. She washed off his face, with water and special anti-bacterial potion and she mended his "easy-to-fix" wounds. Meanwhile, his father, Arthur, called for a Healer to come and help out with what Molly could not fix on her own.

Two of his brothers, Ron and Percy were there as well, along with Ron's friends, Harry and Hermione. The three that had triumphed over the evil Dark Lord and finally finished him for good.

"What happened?" Mrs. Weasley finally asked her son, as soon as he was comfortably lying on the couch. The Healer came into the flat and said an assortment of spells and gave Charlie an array of Potions, while he spoke to his family.

"Dragon," Charlie simply said, realizing that it was obvious, but not wanting to further explain.

"You sure don't seem to be very good at your job," Percy teased. Charlie raised his eyes to view his mother, his father, Percy, Ron, Harry and Hermione, staring over his shoulder.

"What are you all doing here?" he suddenly asked curious. At least that would take some of the attention off of him. 

"Just having lunch," Ron answered. "And discussing future plans."

"I thought you were on assignment," Arthur Weasley added in, "In some Muggle town."

"I was," Charlie answered. By then the Healer had left, and Charlie was just told to rest. "A dragon escaped from Gringotts and landed himself – erm… herself in the town. She's been attacking the dogs in the town and I'm s'pose to catch her and bring her back to the bank."

Charlie looked towards Ron, and noticed that he seemed to back away. He then focused on Harry's eyes and he did the same thing. The pattern continued with Hermione. "You three don't have anything to do with this, do you?"

Hermione and Ron both looked at Harry simultaneously, "Harry, do you have something to say?"

Charlie smiled, as Harry realized that his friends put him on the spot. "You know how we broke into Gringotts," Harry softly started to explain. Charlie nodded his head and urged him to continue, "Well… er… in order to get out." Harry paused once more, "We had to think quickly, and we let the dragon go in order to get her out. Er… sorry."

"Don't be," Charlie continued to smile, despite his injuries. He enjoyed being home sometimes, "I'm sure it was worth it."

"We can help you capture the dragon," Hermione soon joined the conversation, hoping to redeem the trio for what they had done. 

"No, I don't think so," Charlie stared into empty space, avoiding them. "I don't think I can explain to the Muggles why I feel three 18 year olds are capable of helping me. It's too dangerous anyways. You don't have enough experience with dragons, even if you rode on the back of one and made it out alive."

"Harry fought one off fourth year," Ron offered. He seemed ready for an adventure.

"He did, but this one is unpredictable. She's just laid an egg." Charlie did not want to compete. He knew the three wanted to help, but he just couldn't let them.

"Laid an egg?" Hermione questioned. "How could she be pregnant?"

"I'm not quite sure," Charlie answered. "But I saw an egg that she was protecting. It might be ready to hatch any day now. And if she was dangerous today, she will be deadly when her baby comes along."

Charlie saw a sparkle in all three sets of eyes. Somehow he realized that his words had interested them even more at that point. They wanted to come. "Seriously guys, you can't come," he declared. "I know you think that you can do anything now that you've conquered… well You-Know-Who, but you can't. Dragons are dangerous. And I can't take the responsibility of looking after you _and_ the dragon."

"We just feel badly," Hermione spoke for the three. "It was our fault."

"Don't worry about it," Charlie stated. "I'll take care of it."

---

_Several days later…_

"Where is Charlie?" Emilia yelled at her boss, wanting her question to be answered, yet being unsuccessful thus far. "It's been three days and no one's seen him. Isn't he supposed to be getting rid of the threat?"

"Reynolds, calm down," Dr. Baker spoke. "I'm sure he's doing the best he can. It can't be easy."

"But shouldn't he at least check in?" Emilia fumed, finally speaking her mind. "I just don't think he's the right person for the job."

"I'll give him one more day," Baker suggested. "And then I'll the people I contacted before. Just give him a little time."

Emilia sighed heavily, clearly frustrated. She grabbed her purse, closed her locker, and stormed out of the hospital.

She started walking along the sidewalk in a brisk, fast pace. Over those days that Charlie was supposedly working, but missing from the action, there had been one more victim and a total of two more deaths, including the new victim.

Emilia was frustrated and annoyed. She tried her best to heal the dogs, but nothing was working. She was used to sending some dogs home, healthy, but as of late, that was not happening. Not one single dog survived.

She was spending almost every hour of her life at work, and it was starting to show. Her eyes barely stayed open and she was cranky. The cups of coffee could only do so much, before exhaustion set in. She did not want to leave, but Talia made her. And Dr. Baker backed her up.

She sorted through the parking lot to finally find her beat up green Civic, parked in the back. Though being a vet gave her a pretty hefty salary, she did not spend it on her car. She just wanted a car to bring her back and forth to work. Nothing fancy.

Emilia piled into her machine and drove the short distance to her home. It was difficult for her to keep her eyes open along the way, but she managed to. The drive not being that far admittedly helped.

As she opened the door to her home, a large yellow Labrador Retriever approached her with a furiously wagging tail. "Taffy," she said and her mood instantly brightened. "I'm sorry I left you for so long. You've been a good girl, right?"

Emilia walked into the flat and Taffy continued to show excitement, staying at the heels of her master. "She certainly has," a tall black haired woman declared. She was Emilia's roommate, Jessamine Declar.

"I'm sorry that I left her for so long," Emilia said apologetically, hoping that she would not find much anger in Jessamine's tone.

"You said that you would take care of her," Jessamine did seem angry, "That I wouldn't have to worry about her."

"I know," Emilia felt terrible. She remembered saying that. She should be there to take care of Taffy. "I told you that I can bring her to work with me if you really want."

That quieted Jessamine. Emilia knew that she liked Taffy, but she did not like taking care of Taffy. It's not like it was very difficult though. Taffy wasn't one of those mellow Labs, but she could be if needed. If needed, she could be fine, alone in the house, most of the day. All that Jessamine needed to do was take her on two or three potty walks, and feed her breakfast and dinner. A little attention was always nice, but Taffy did not thrive on Jessamine's attention. Emilia was her human and that's who she wanted.

"It's okay," Jessamine said finally after several awkward moments of silence. "I don't want her to be locked in a cage all day." She then left the room.

When Emilia decided to move to Newberry, she looked at the classified section of the paper. Jessamine's ad was the first one she saw and when the two met, everything seemed okay. Emilia especially loved the house, so she tried to be optimistic about the roommate.

The two seemed to get along right away. And they continued to get along. They weren't really friends though. They just tolerated each other's presence. Emilia was anxious for the day that Jessamine decided to move out or the day that she could find a suitable place all to herself, but not much was ever for sale in the quaint town of Newberry.

Emilia walked further into the flat, dropping her things off on the dining room table. Taffy continued to follow her, hoping that there was a walk in her future.

Emilia noticed that look. "I'm sorry girl," she said. "I'm exhausted."

Taffy seemed to understand her words. Her ears, which were previously perked up, drooped down and her tail slowed down from a ferocious quick wag, to a light brush back and forth. 

Emilia then had an idea. She knew that mental work was more exhaustive than physical work anyways, so it would be good for Taffy. She took Taffy up to her bedroom, so that she would be out of Jessamine's way. Sitting down on her bed, Taffy sat obediently in front of her, waiting for her to do something.

Taffy continued to wiggle her tail in front of Emilia as the girl just looked at the beautiful Lab. Emilia smiled weakly as she scratched Taffy's floppy ears and she began to think about the first time that she had gotten Taffy. That dog became the light of her life. Someone she could come home to and always feel confident telling her secrets to. A creature she shared so much in common with and a creature that would never let her down.

"Unlike some people," Emilia mused aloud, as she leaned down, scratching the head of the creature that she had grown to admire.

She reached into her pocket to grab a treat and she tossed it upward for Taffy to eat at her discretion. As she did so, Emilia stared out of her apartment window down at the semi-busy street of Newberry. Everything seemed so cluttered in the small town, but she knew better. The place was no larger than the point of a sharpened pencil on a globe.

As she thought about her last comment, her mind immediately drifted to Charlie. Lately, he hadn't been good for anything. He'd just been some selfish, pompous, inconsiderate jerk that came and went as he pleased while on the job. She could not trust him or his words at all.

"There are dogs to save, and he just thinks he can waltz in and out on them like some… some arrogant bastard!" Emilia said frustrated with him again as she grunted and threw a pillow over her face, falling back on the bed with it.

Emilia let out a gentle scream that was muffled by the feather filled menace, as Taffy began to nudge whatever was conquering her master's face. Taking the pillow from her face, smiling a bit, Emilia turned her head towards Taffy as the dog commenced to licking her face. Breathing in, she sat up and stroked Taffy's head once again.

"Well, I know that if you had this assignment, you wouldn't let me down would you girl?" Emilia questioned to Taffy as she rubbed her nose in her face and sighed once more, "But… you're not human, so I'm stuck with that no good, rotten red-head."

Taffy began toying around with a ball that was on Emilia's bed, as it slowly took the girl away from her demeaning thoughts about Mr. Charlie Weasley. 

Eventually, Emilia grabbed hold of the ball and the two played fetch for a good fifteen minutes, before Emilia's cell rang.

Emilia grabbed the phone and Dr. Baker's voice on the other end greeted her. "Reynolds," Taylor said. "Charlie's back."


	6. Chapter 6

The day was dying down. It was dark outside and the sky was starless. The breeze passed by slowly, yet outside in the Newberry Forest, it was virtually non-existent. There was fiery light that the great predator surrounded herself in, keeping her and her egg warm. Anything that came in her path was doomed to destruction by either the light or her. However, she was growing weak and blind, yet she was using all of her strength to protect the one part of her life that she was so incredibly proud of.

She remembered back to the day that she had last seen freedom.

_She was young then. She was living in the mountains, enjoying the freedom and the fresh air every day. She knew she was in a reserve, but she did not mind. Dragons were smarter than they let on and she was taught by her mother that reserves were wonderful places for dragons to grow up in. Both witches and wizards waiting on you, claw and paw. They provided food, shelter and care. Sure, there were times when her inner predator and instincts came out and she craved human flesh, but it was easy to overcome. To get used to being fed goats and sheep and whatever other fleshy creatures came into her path was not so bad. _

She was not the best looking of dragons. Her black scales seemed a little flaky, even before she was locked away in that awful place she refused to ever call home. Her spiked tail was particularly sharp and she was proud of the flame that came out of her mouth. It reached just about fifty feet, where her mother's was at least twenty feet shorter and all of the others of her kind were about the same. It was her prime attribute. That's why the males flocked after her. Not because of a particularly perfect face, which she obviously lacked, but because of her extremely large flame. She never minded showing it off.

One winter she thought she found the perfect mate. He was the most attractive, with vibrant black scales and the perfect symmetrical face. Dragons typically did not care about looks, but she did. She prided herself in her flame, but she would have rather had a pretty face than a large flame. But he liked the flame. And his name was Tezcacoatl. Even just thinking of that name made her happy. Linnie and Tezcacoatl. It always sounded perfect together.

They spent that winter together. They were inseparable and he had claimed her. She was happy. He was the perfect one for her. There was competition and he won – and she was glad. 

In the springtime that's when they came. They picked her for the same reasons that Tezcacoatl and the others wanted her – her flame. Plus, they did not seem to like her because of her unusually ugly markings.

It all worked out for her to live a life guarding the bank of Gringotts. If only she would have known what was happening to her that day. She would have fought against it because before that day she was the happiest Hungarian Horntail at the reserve.

But they moved her. She remembered being attacked and somehow ending up underground and attached to a chain. She tried to move, but she could not go very far. They trained her to be fearful of Clankers. And that and the loneliness she felt was the only thing that she was afraid of. And each day she hoped for someone to save her from her two worst fears – maybe Tezxacoatl would come like in the human stories.

But dragons were not like that. They moved on if they were separated from their mate. They did not care. She did, but he did not. She thought about him every day, but she soon figured that he had moved on. So she suppressed her memories of him. And she did not think about him ever.

Linnie continued to live her days, being fed just barely enough to survive and living without any company or any room to move. She eventually spent her time sleeping most of the day, trying to drag on time. She no longer knew why she cared to be alive. She spent most of her days, pondering that question. For life was no fun. And no one ever came.

That was until a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago Linnie could faintly hear from her near deaf ears, the sound of wizards and a goblin. They came and somehow she was free. She flew off into freedom and she flew as far as she could away from the place. She settled into a forest because she was weak.

When she found a hidden place she craved real food. She wondered what she was going to eat and found a goat as her first meal. And that flesh never tasted so good. The flesh was her first real catch. Even in the reserve, she did not truly hunt on her own.

But soon Linnie thought of him again. As she was free, she had the time to think of him, to hope for a future. And that's when her cravings changed. She did not realize at the time that she was ready to lay an egg. She only figured that she had new tastes because she was finally free and she wanted something new.

Linnie flew south a ways until she settled on a town that was full of Muggles. They would not suspect a thing and they had a plentiful stock of dogs that she could call out to. She found another hiding spot and she easily found food. After so many years, she thought getting food on her own would be difficult, but it was not. It was one of the easiest things to remember how to do. 

Then Linnie laid her egg.

And she became even fiercer in her attacks, realizing that she was going to have to provide for two. She was having trouble killing them all, but she was able to get enough food. She continued to support her baby. She was excited that she was going to be a mother.

No matter what she would provide for her baby. She was too weak to fly to a better town, but she would help her baby out. She would provide for her until her baby would be able to fly away, freely. Because she was not an ordinary dragon. She knew what true love meant. 

---

Inside Newberry Animal Hospital, a newly recovered Charlie Weasley stood proud, giving an update to the doctors that worked so tirelessly to save the lives of the undeserving little pets. He found Dr. Baker, but she did not seem to want to talk. All of her issues seemed to get passed down to her number two, Dr. Emilia Reynolds. Charlie wished that his boss treated him like Dr. Baker treated Emilia. "Why don't you talk to him?" Charlie heard Dr. Baker say, as she talked on a funky little device, which Charlie couldn't quite figure out.

"Here, talk to her," Baker then turned to Charlie and handed him the Muggle thing-a-ma-jig.

Charlie took a hold of it, trying to remember the certain way that Baker held it. He stared blankly at it, finally arranging it in a comfortable position. "Emilia?" he shouted, not understanding at all.

Dr. Baker gave him a quizzical look, as he waited patiently for a reply. In not getting one, he shook the contraption, thinking that could help.

"You're holding it upside down," Dr. Baker finally said, her eyes looming in curiosity.

Charlie thought he understood. He flipped the watch-a-ma-call-it over and he held it to his face, like he thought he saw Dr. Baker do, "Emilia?" he repeated.

Dr. Baker breathed a sigh of annoyance. She grabbed a hold of the machine, flipped it the other way and turned it around. Charlie gave an appreciative smile, as he repeated Emilia's name into the thing-a-ma-bobber.

Seconds later, Charlie heard Emilia's quiet, yet assertive voice chime back, "Charlie?" she asked.

Charlie jumped up, startled and confused. She… had just spoken to him. But where was she?

He tapped on the bottom of the device, where several holes clustered around. Could she? No… Muggles couldn't do that? … Could they? How could they fit themselves in such a small place?

"Charlie, did you hear a word I just said?" Charlie jumped up again. His thoughts drifted back to Emilia. He had to concentrate. He had to act like he knew what the weird gadget was.

"No, sorry," Charlie stated. "Could you repeat that?" At least he was honest.

Like magic, he heard a reply, almost instantaneously. "Did you find the killer?" Emilia asked once again with a slightly more annoyed tone than before.

Oh yeah, that's what he was doing. "Erm… yeah," he said, still intrigued by the device in his hand.

"So what is it?" she asked.

By then Charlie was starting to get used to the device. He may not understand it, but he knew how to work it. And that meant that he no longer jumped up at each word she said.

"Um…," Charlie still did not know what to say back. He couldn't say it was a dragon. He should have thought that one through more thoroughly before finding his way back to the Animal Hospital. "Well, I didn't get a full glance of it," Charlie explained. "But I did observe it some. I'm going to go try to catch it later. As soon as I gather some more research and get a team together." Well, it was the truth – mostly.

Charlie heard Emilia sigh. She had obviously hoped that everything was taken care of. The truth was it just wasn't that easy. He would have loved for it to be taken care of already as well. "Okay," Emilia said. "Well, keep us updated. And make sure to give Talia or Baker your number."

"Okay," Charlie agreed, though he did not know what she meant by his number. He would figure it out when the time came. "Have a good night."

"You too," Emilia said. Then, Charlie heard a beeping noise, which he inferred as the end of the conversation. He put the beeping device down and he looked to see Talia intently staring at him.

Her long blonde hair was neatly arranged in a ponytail and her blue eyes stared at him vigorously. Everything about her was mystical and she even gave him a smile, which he could not decipher the meaning of. He had no idea what she was thinking and he loved that. She was real. A real mystery. Just like the dragon. That's what got his blood pumping. That's what the Gryffindor in him searched for in life.

"Can I get your number?" she finally spoke, which knocked Charlie out of his daze. "Strictly professional. Just so we can call you in case you ever disappear again."

So he would have to think quickly. Emilia had already said it, yet he thought he would have more time between talking to her and having to figure out what his number was.

He would be able to reason it out. The Sorting Hat almost sorted him in Ravenclaw. He did have some intellectual ability.

Yet he could not figure out what his number was. He knew it had something to do with the contraption he was using previously, yet it didn't make any sense. Number? What was that? "I'm sorry, I don't know," he finally blurted out. He did not know if it was an obvious thing for a Muggle to know or not. He hoped that it wasn't.

"Well, don't you have a cell?" Talia asked. She seemed quite puzzled.

Again, Charlie didn't know what a _cell_ was. He figured it was the device that he was speaking from, yet he knew he did not have one. "Er… no," he answered.

"Quite odd," Talia seemed to mutter under her breath, yet Charlie heard, "Well where are you staying? Don't you have a phone there?"

The first part of the question Charlie understood and he screamed out the answer in excitement, "Cavalier Cottage."

"That place is bloody awful," Talia managed to say. "Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly countered.

"Nah… it's alright," Charlie forced a smile. "My boss is quite cheap. I agree."

"What's your room number there?" Talia then asked.

"102," he replied.

"Okay," she said. "I'll find their number and get them to transfer them to you if I need. I guess I'll see you later then." Talia started to walk away.

"Wait!" Charlie shouted, trying to stop her. He realized that he did like Talia quite a bit. And he couldn't let her get away. If he didn't say anything at that point, he probably would never say something. "Do you want to go out again? I had a lot of fun with you the other night."

Talia's blue eyes looked sadly into his, and he immediately realized what her response was going to be. He thought the feelings were mutual, but maybe they weren't. "I'm not sure, Charlie," she turned to face him. "I just don't see this working out. Even if we have another nice dinner you're going to be leaving soon, and I don't think we'd ever be strong enough to have a successful long distance relationship."

Suddenly blurting out before she could even stop herself, Talia sputtered her immediate thoughts, as they seemed to be more of a truthful excuse than anything else. "You and Emilia would make a better couple. She'd be better at keeping up with a long distance relationship than you and I would."

That was much more of an intricate answer than Charlie ever thought he would get. She was really thinking of the future and she had it all mapped out. He was just thinking of the next date, and he thought everything would be okay. He still did not understand it. The only thing that he understood was that he had been turned down.

"Oh, okay," Charlie simply replied.

"Why don't you two go out?" Talia then suggested. Her eyes sparkled at the idea.

It took Charlie awhile to figure out what she was suggesting. He didn't think about Talia's words about Emilia, until she asked the most recent question. Then, he realized what she was saying.

"Oh, I don't think so," Charlie answered in a hurried muffle. He proceeded to verbalize his next statement clearly so that he would not be suckered into the Emilia thing. "You're right. A long distance relationship won't work too well."

"No, she'd be fine with it," Talia was excited, as she realized that her jealousy of Emilia had been left behind at the restaurant. After some consideration, Charlie did seem to suit Emilia better than he suited her. Charlie, however, did not seem to express the same kind of enthusiasm. "She's only had one boyfriend before, so she's not used to it. She'd be committed. Cause she's that type of person. I'd break your heart. She's a trustworthy person. You deserve that. You deserve more than me."

Charlie had never heard anyone say those types of words to him before. She was protecting him from herself. And that made him like her even more. Yet she was suggesting dating her best friend. And he didn't want to. "I don't think I could do that. Our personalities just don't match," Charlie spoke quite assertively.

Talia's eyes dimmed towards the floor and the exuberance she had expressed before died down. She was upset. And Charlie was upset because she was upset. She was just so darn cute when she was upset. He felt terrible that he was the cause of her harm, and he wanted to support her. Yet, he knew she wouldn't let him. Because she wanted him to date her best friend. 

"Emilia's a great person," Talia explained further. "And she really deserves a good guy. I know you're hesitant about her because she's quiet and she seems shy around you. That's just because she doesn't have much guy experience. She knows more about the furry kind than the human kind. But she can learn. And you're really a great guy. You two would just be so perfect together."

Charlie knew that Talia was just pouring out her feelings, something that she probably had stored inside of her for awhile. He knew that she must extremely admire Emilia for having those feelings, yet he did not understand her reasoning of why he and Emilia would be perfect for one another.

She had never explained that.

Yet in some way he started to realize that he may have judged Emilia wrongly. She did seem to be an amazing doctor that cared extremely about her patients. She knew the ways of animals, but she may not know the ways of guys too much. Maybe she did need a little guidance.

But he couldn't be the person to guide her. He wasn't exactly the most knowledgeable subject on girls either. He only had a few girlfriends because he was always busy with work and no one ever wanted to date a guy that always worked and a guy that came home with cuts, burns and wounds all the time.

No, he wasn't the right person to guide her. 

Though, he did feel sympathy for her. He was cruel on that first day in the pub. To judge her solely on the way that she walked and carried herself was wrong. He was sure there was more to her than that, but he did not try to find out. He just thought of her as weak and undeserving and he ignored her. She had not done anything wrong. She was at least better than that Irma girl.

"I don't think it would work out," Charlie finally concluded. "You're right, long distance relationships just don't work out." He then left the animal hospital.


	7. Chapter 7

Charlie Weasley sat alone in a desk in the corner of the dusty shack that his boss so carelessly arranged for him to live in. He had at least four books opened, while he munched on a handful of pretzels, trying to get some food into his system, as he worked tirelessly to find out what was going on with the Gringott's dragon.

He just couldn't figure it out. There was nothing in any of the textbooks that said that a female dragon could lay an egg, without the presence of a male around. And there was no male dragon around – at least not another Hungarian Horntail. Charlie was sure of that. Because none of it seemed to make sense, Charlie was stuck in a mystery that was going to be hard to solve without all the evidence.

The man heard his stomach grumble, and instinctively lodged another pretzel in his mouth. There was no time for him to eat a real meal seeing as he had yet to figure everything out. For when that egg hatched, a time he couldn't truly estimate, she would become even more dangerous.

Charlie let out a heavy sigh, frustrated and feeling extremely alone in his efforts. He had owled his boss with updates, yet he had never elaborated about the obvious frustrations that the assignment entailed. He knew he could figure it out, and did not want to give his boss any reason to think that he was weak. One of these days Charlie hoped to rise up in the ranks of his company, and weakness was not going to get him there.

He fiercely closed his _Dragon Encyclopedia_, as even after hours of coming up empty, Charlie still hadn't the slightest clue as to how this dragon ended up with an egg. And ironically, the book was no help either. It didn't tell him anything about dragon eggs other than what a dragon trainer of his advanced years should already know. So that in itself had been aggravating seeing as there was no male even close to their proximity.

He proceeded to close the three other books that he had dispersed out on the table. He then grew even more upset, as he swept his arm across the table, which caused the books to fall down to the ground finally prompting a loud bang.

Charlie stood up from his seat, circling around the room attempting to think. His eyes focused on the dark outside scenery, as he suddenly realized that someone or something had just landed itself outside of his door. That was enough to disrupt his thoughts.

He took another look, trying to see what it was, but his eyes failed him. Whatever it was was approaching quickly, and with disturbing confidence. When he heard a knock on the door, he felt somewhat relieved, knowing that a potential threat would not willingly knock. If he was lucky, it could possibly even be Talia, ready to apologize from their previous conversation.

He opened the door quickly, which came to reveal a bushy haired girl standing with a rather large set of books in her hands. "How did you find me?" Charlie asked.

"Your parents told me," Hermione Granger revealed, walking into the shack without hesitation. Charlie opened his mouth to tell her that she was not welcomed, but he soon closed it, realizing that she probably could help. He was not having much luck on his own.

"I told you not to help," Charlie still had to try to stop her. She was still inexperienced with dragons.

"I know," Hermione answered as she walked in, putting the books down on the table that Charlie had just previously been at, frustrated by his rather useless studying results, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about the dragon since you left. I couldn't understand what happened, but I think I know now."

Charlie opened up eagerly in anticipation for what she was going to say. She had an answer? He had to listen. 

"The dragon came from a reserve – right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Charlie answered. "Let me make sure." 

For the first time since the night before his first day of work in the Muggle town, he took a look at the protocol that his boss handed him. Charlie opened up to the page where it had the dragon's past information, and saw that the dragon had in fact come from a reserve – the very reserve that he worked at in Romania. 

Charlie's eyes glanced further down the sheet, realizing that his own boss, Dragos Vasile, had been the one to sign her over to the bank. It was making sense. He never thought his boss cared about dragons as much as the other dragon people did. It must not have been a problem for him to give the orders to allow a dragon to live such a terrible life.

"Right from Romania," Charlie finally answered.

"Okay," Hermione then started to explain. She opened two of the books that she brought with her and she found a certain page that she had marked as important using a simple Page-Marking spell. "Jerome Lackluster found that sometimes when witches who are powerful enough, are depressed when they are pregnant, they can suppress memories, which causes them to delay the growth of the child, sometimes stopping it permanently or sometimes pausing it enough until they are over their depression."

Charlie was not sure where her explanation was headed. He looked to see the title of the book as _Lackluster's Discoveries of Wizard Kind_, which had nothing to do with dragons.

She then grabbed the other open book and Charlie noticed the title being, _Lackluster Junior's Discoveries of Magical Creatures_. "Lackluster's son was more interested in magical creatures and he researched to see if any of his father's studies could relate to them. He briefly discussed the topic of suppressed memories, stating that he believed he witnessed a Unicorn, delaying a birth, until her mate came back for her. He says that he's not sure if this happens in all creatures, especially egg-laying creatures, but he says it's quite possible."

"So you're telling me that the dragon suppressed her memories, keeping her egg from hatching, until she was free from Gringotts?" Charlie was not sure if he understood her correctly. It could be possible, but that would mean that a lot of assumptions would have to be true.

"Yeah," Hermione answered. "If you can talk to the people from Romania, you can see if they noticed if she was pregnant before she left. Or if there was a male dragon that she'd been around a lot. At least that could prove the assumption."

"Thank you," Charlie was grateful. At least he had one explanation, and it was something that he could look into with an easy owl to his boss.

"You're welcome," Hermione answered.

"But what about the green?" Charlie then mentioned, remembering the green on several of the dogs at the Animal Hospital.

"What green?" Hermione asked.

"The dragon has this greenish slob around his mouth. The victims have it too. I don't know exactly where it's coming from," Charlie explained, keeping his eyes focused on Hermione.

"I'm not sure," Hermione answered, with a bit of confusion. "I'll do some more research in a bit, but for now don't you think I deserve a chance to meet the dragon after what I've found?"

"What?" Charlie was not expecting that. Harry was the adventurous one. Hermione was the reasonable one. He was not sure where that came from. "I don't think so. I told you, it's too dangerous."

"But I have an Invisibility Cloak," Hermione said, as she lifted up the cloak, showing Charlie, as much as one could show another an Invisible Cloak. "There's no danger in that. Come on."

"Where's your entourage?" Charlie spat realizing that Harry and Ron were missing from the picture. 

That was unusual.

"You said all of us would be too many responsibilities for you, so I didn't tell them that I was coming. Or that I was even working on a way to figure this out."

"Why do you want to see the dragon?" Charlie was amused with the cloak, though he still did not get why Hermione was so adamant on coming.

"I'm not exactly sure. I guess when I heard some of your experiences with dragons I became interested. I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do with my life, and maybe working with dragons would be sort of interesting. I mean figuring out what happened to this one was kind of… fun."

Charlie laughed. "You? Working with dragons?" He couldn't imagine it at all. Maybe she was not as sensible as he thought her to be.

But Hermione did not respond. Instead, she put the cloak over her and Charlie, squishing herself next to him to make it fit. "Let's just go," she said enthusiastically.

---

Emilia Reynolds could not sleep.

She had heard some unusual sound in the middle of the night, and kept her eyes opened since then, wondering where the sound was coming from. She was scared. And what made it even worse was that she couldn't find her beloved Taffy.

Usually at night, Taffy slept on a bed that was right next to Emilia's own bed. Taffy kept her company and Taffy gave her companionship, which was something she unfortunately lacked. When Emilia woke up to the distance sound of harm, she found that Taffy's bed was empty. In fact, Taffy wasn't even in the room and that terrified Emilia.

She slipped on some shoes and grabbed a jacket, thinking that under the autumn moon it was going to be somewhat cold. She walked outside revealing that was indeed the case, and she stared her eyes out into the bleakness and darkness of the night.

The moon was shining bright, halfway towards fullness. The street lamps were shining heavily as well making the neighborhood seem friendly, even in the darkest of nights. She usually was afraid to walk alone under the night's skies, but now she did not think about her fear. She wanted to find Taffy and that was all that mattered.

She walked further towards the forest because that's where she always heard the noise. That's where some type of chilling sensation surged through her body to warn her that there was danger. She was not the type of person that searched for danger, but if it meant saving Taffy's life, than it was an ample sacrifice. 

Emilia did not want to drive because she knew that if Taffy somehow escaped, she would more likely run into her on foot. Driving would only cause the poor canine to be confused, and that is not what she wanted.

The woman continued to walk past the residential streets, and more towards the dark forest. Lights started to die down and she did not even think about the possible dangers she could be walking towards. The town was relatively safe, except for the unknown creature. And so far the unknown creature had not attacked humans… at least none that she had heard of.

At the edge of the woods, right before the steep hill started, Emilia heard a bristling of leaves. She thought she even saw a shoe pass her by, but that couldn't be possible – could it? Unless the creature was extremely unusual and rare, she must not have actually seen a shoe walking itself in the briskness of the night.

But she did hear a crackling sound, like someone was walking along the path, rustling along the autumn leaves. And the sound was coming right from the direction that she saw the shoe.

Then she saw Taffy. Her yellow fur was almost unnoticeable because it was completely covered in red streaks of blood. She was walking with a limp, and Emilia realized that each step was a struggle for her to walk. Taffy whimpered as she flopped along, giving Emilia the interpretation that she was near death.

Emilia ran to her as soon as she noticed her, so that Taffy did not have to take another painful step. She scooped her large dog up in her arms, trying to protect her from the evil that just attacked.

As soon as Taffy was in her arms the dog grew limp, not able to move. Tears poured down Emilia's face, but she carried on knowing that she had to take her to the hospital as quickly as possible. She could not wipe the tears away, so it made it her vision more difficult, but Emilia ran, trying to save her best friend's life.

She heard a noise coming from behind her, but she did not stop. Emilia knew it could be the creature and she did not want to give it a chance to attack, even though curiosity was pounding at her body to turn back to see what it was.

Then she heard his voice.

It was Charlie that was following her, and she took a moment to pause to look at him. She turned around to see a girl next time him, who had to be about ten years younger than him. "Good going with your job," Emilia ruthlessly shouted. "You've done a wonderful job!" She could not stop the tears as she declared her anger against him.

"I'm sorry," Charlie looked somewhat frightened from Emilia's intense stare.

"You haven't even been working - have you?" she asked. "Fooling around with a kid? I should have known. You don't really care."

"Hey!" the girl shouted.

"Quiet, Hermione," Charlie stopped her from saying anymore. "Hermione's my brother's girlfriend," Charlie then explained, but he wasn't certain why. The tears streaming down Emilia's face compelled him to want to make the pain go away for her, but he didn't know how.

"You're a terrible person," Emilia felt even more anger towards him, with a hint of annoyance. She did not care about giving him time to explain himself.

"Shut up!" Charlie yelled, frustrated and concerned at the same time. He moved closer to Emilia, in attempt to examine Taffy's wounds. "She came to help me and she did. We were just going to check out the creature again when I saw you and Taffy is it?"

That did make a little bit of sense to Emilia. She had not thought about how Charlie and the girl named Hermione came to found her. Still, she didn't trust him, and she needed to get going. Taffy was weakening. "I have to go," Emilia said. "I need to do _my_ job. I need to save her."

She started to walk once more, increasing her pace as she went along. "Wait," she soon heard Charlie say. He ran up to her, trying to stop her from continuing on. However, Emilia did not have enough patience. She needed to keep walking; to get Taffy to the hospital.

"I think I can help," he said. "You haven't been successful thus far in saving any of them. I know someone who I think can help. Please, just trust me."

Emilia thought about his offer, as she continued to walk, or rather jog. He was correct about her record. She had not been successful in saving one dog's life since the attacks had started, and even though she knew she would work tirelessly to save her own dog's life, it probably would not turn out well. If he had a solution, she should at least try it. Anything to save her dog. 

"And how long will it take for this person to get here?" Emilia asked.

"Not very long at all," Charlie quickly responded, relieved that she was starting to give him something to work with. "If you take Taffy back to my place, I can get him here pretty quickly."

Emilia considered the offer again. She did not like stepping aside from doing her job, but it seemed reasonable and it seemed like her only real option to save her dog's life.

"Okay," she finally decided. "Let's go."


	8. Chapter 8

The night was late and there was much stress and pain. Charlie Weasley felt for the first time sympathetic towards Dr. Emilia Reyolds as he stared down at the dog that she loved. Charlie knew that she would do anything to save Taffy's life when she agreed to have him help her out. He knew that Emilia didn't like him and that she doubted his abilities, but when he gave her a glimmer of hope for saving Taffy, she accepted it. And now he had to deliver. He had to save Taffy's life. He couldn't look Emilia in the eye and tell her that Taffy was dead.

They finally made it to Charlie's shack. Hermione stayed quiet along the way, as did Emilia. There was no need to talk, as they hurried along under the darkened sky. Emilia's look was frantic as she rushed to help Taffy out.

Charlie knew an acquaintance that could help Taffy, so as soon as he stepped into his shack, he decided to find him. "I'll be back," he shouted, as soon as Emilia put Taffy down on Charlie's bed. Charlie offered the spot for Taffy, and did not mind that the dog was going to be bleeding all over his bed. He could fix blood stains easily. Taffy was not such an easy fix.

"Where are you going?" Emilia asked intensely staring at the red-head.

Charlie was not in the mood for questions. He offered to help, but he didn't want to explain. _He couldn't._ He had to keep Emilia as out of the loop as possible. Luckily, Hermione was able to save him. "He has to make a phone call," she said. He was appreciative for her. Being a Muggleborn, she just understood the Muggle ways better.

"Erm… yeah," Charlie said, realizing that he should probably ask her what a phone was at some point. He still was not quite sure about it.

He then proceeded to walk out the door to a spot that would be ideal for Apparition. He focused his attention back on the reserve in Romania, and within seconds he was there.

The man soon approached the office building. He did not want to see his irritating boss, but rather a co-worker, Damon Randa, who was a dragon healer.

Charlie walked rather quickly, trying to find Damon as soon as he could. Everything in this task needed to be taken seriously and to be done immediately. He saw Taffy's condition and he knew that she could not survive for much longer without the help of magic.

Charlie found himself in Damon's office, while Damon sat there, not involved in any task, whatsoever. It was perfect because Damon had the time to help. "I need your help," Charlie instantly directed.

"What for?" Damon questioned, turning towards Charlie. He was surprised at Charlie's sudden entrance, but he liked Charlie, so he did not question his rash presence.

"Come, now," Charlie demanded stressing his words. He needed Damon to come as soon as possible. They could talk along the way, but he needed to get back to Newberry as quickly as he could.

"Charlie?" Damon asked, perplexed. Charlie could tell that Damon was skeptical of him. They were friends, but they were never that close. He wished that he had had the time to interact with Damon more, but for now he had to rely on the friendship that they had already established.

"Grab whatever medical supplies you can quickly. We need to hurry," Charlie pushed Damon to act quicker.

Damon stood up instantly, and listened. Charlie assumed he finally saw the seriousness of the situation. Damon grabbed a dragon first aid kit from off his desk, and Charlie rushed him back to Apparate away.

"What's going on?" Damon asked as they walked towards a safe Apparition point. In Romania they had to Apparate far enough away from the dragons, so as to not scare them into rebelling. They did not like it when wizards used magic that they could not use themselves.

"We're going to Newberry," Charlie explained bluntly. He grabbed a hold of Damon when they were far enough away from the reserve and Charlie used Side Apparition to travel back to Newberry. Within seconds they were back in the Muggle town.

Before they walked through the door to Charlie's shack, he explained the situation a little more. "Emilia's a Muggle, so you can't say anything about magic. But she needs help." Charlie didn't want reveal that the victim was a dog before he arrived in the house. Not many dragon people thought of dogs as creatures to risk to save.

Charlie and Damon walked through the door. Inside, Taffy was laying on the bed, and by now the bed was fully covered with blood. Emilia and Hermione's hands were covered with blood as well, as Charlie realized that Emilia was trying to stop the bleeding. Taffy still was alive though, so that was a good sign. Emilia had kept her alive up until that point.

"This is my co-worker, Damon Randa," Charlie introduced as they walked in. He waited for Damon's response when he finally realized who his patient was.

"A dog?" Damon had a quizzical expression on his face. Charlie was sure that he didn't understand. He was hoping that Emilia could be the one that showed him that Taffy deserved his care. "I'm not putting energy and resources into saving a dog. Why did you bring me here, Charlie?"

"Please," Emilia begged. She still had tear-drawn eyes, and her hands and clothes were filled almost entirely with blood. Her cheeks were flushed and her expressions were desperate, which showed Charlie even more how much she cared. He saw her eyes glance into Damon's, and it was enough for Charlie to grow weak. If he was not completely convinced up to this point to find help for Taffy, he was entirely now. He just hoped that was enough for Damon. "Charlie said you could save her. Please help her."

Damon rushed over to Taffy's side. "Fine," he grumbled. Charlie had picked Damon, of all of his dragon healer friends, for a reason. Damon was the most likely to give in to Emilia if she played it correctly. And she had done brilliantly. Damon was going to help. "You shouldn't be here," he then told her. "I need all the space I can get."

"I'm a veterinarian," Emilia said. "I can help. Please, let me help."

Charlie knew that it was a good idea to get Emilia out of the way. Damon would be saying spells and giving Taffy potions. She couldn't see that. "My methods are a little unorthodox," Damon said. "If you want me to help, I don't want you to see."

"No," Emilia was furious. "I'm not going to willingly allow you to do something different that I've never seen if I'm not watching."

"Emilia," Charlie spoke up. "Please, just let him do his work. I promise that he's reliable and responsible." He felt guilty for promising Emilia something that he was not sure of himself, but he had to be sure of it. He then took Emilia's hand and he led her away. To his surprise, she let him lead her away. She was being reasonable in a time of distress.

Charlie led her to the kitchen of his shack. It was the only other room available to him, and he needed to keep her as far away as possible.

She kept quiet as they moved into the kitchen. Charlie was sure that Emilia was in shock, and it was taking her brain time to realize what exactly had just happened. It was the first time since she saw Taffy injured that she could settle down. Though, she couldn't completely settle because Taffy was not healed yet.

Charlie noticed the sink and he stared between it and Emilia's bloody hands. He led her over to the sink, and he turned on the water. He kept his pinky finger under the water, waiting for it to turn warm. He kept Emilia's hands away from the cold water, so that it did not shock her. In that time, she did not say a word, and Charlie couldn't find words to say himself. Instead, he kept his finger in the water, and then turned to attend to her, once the water was at a decent temperature.

He placed her hands in the warm water, and he took soap to help her clean the blood away. She remained still and quiet, so he washed her hands for her. He gently scrubbed the soap all over her hands, as well as up and down her arms. He then washed the warm water over the soap. He saw the water turn into a pinkish color, as the blood washed off, and he put on more soap and he repeated the process two more times. After those two more times, the water and sink had turned into a bright red color, showing just how much blood Emilia had on her. Soon, the blood completely dispersed of off Emilia's hands, and Charlie took a towel to wipe away the water on her hands. Emilia still stood motionlessly, as she allowed him to clean her up.

When he finished, he pulled out a chair for her to sit in, and she noticed. She sat down, quietly, and still, obviously in shock. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" Charlie asked, hoping that he could do something else to help. He felt his heart race as he was not too sure of himself in front of the woman.

At that point Emilia finally spoke, though quietly, "Some tea would be nice."

Charlie was able to do that. His food and drink making abilities were limited, but tea was his specialty. He jumped up at the opportunity for a task and he set up the kettle and he poured in the water. He got everything ready and he waited in silence for awhile until it was done. Once it was, he grabbed two mugs, and he poured the tea into them. "Thank you," Emilia said, with little emotion as she grabbed her mug.

Charlie sat down next to Emilia, sipping at his tea, while she held hers in her hands, not actually drinking it. "I think I'm going to go check on them," Emilia then spoke.

"No," Charlie raced up from his seat. "I'll go." He put his mug down and he walked back into the bedroom, hoping that Emilia would stay put.

Once inside, he saw Damon forcing a potion down Taffy's throat. Charlie was sure that he had already said some spells, and now he was trying to add some potions into the mix. Luckily, Taffy's bleeding had decreased since Charlie had last seen her, and he assumed that the potion that she was being given was blood replenishing potion. That would help her grow stronger. "Emilia wants an update," Charlie whispered to Hermione as he maneuvered his way to the girl. He did not want Damon to see that he was there.

"She's doing okay," Hermione whispered back. "She lost a lot of blood and had some broken bones, but it looks like she's going to survive. In about fifteen minutes you can bring Emilia back her, as the potion will have had its effect by then and Damon will be done."

"Okay," Charlie said, as he left the room once again to go back to Emilia.

Back in the kitchen, Emilia was calmly drinking her tea. Charlie was appreciative that she was relatively calm and understanding. He was sure it was partly due to the shock, but he also hoped that it was because she trusted him. "How is she?" Emilia asked as soon as Charlie took a seat again.

"She's doing okay," Charlie explained. "He was able to stop the bleeding, but he's still working on some more injuries. You'll be able to see her soon."

"She can't die," Emilia said in such a fierce way that Charlie could not believe it was coming from Emilia's mouth. He had to admit that since the night started, he had seen a change in Emilia. She was no longer the shy, nervous girl he remembered. She was confident and she was sure of her words. Even though it was because of something terrible, Charlie liked that Emilia better.

"He's trying his best not to let her," Charlie reassured her. His voice was confident in the time of distress like the way his mother used to talk to him when he was just a kid and Voldemort's threat were all over. He took her example in most everything that he did – especially work - knowing that it kept him calm and confident as a child.

"She came at a time that I was not sure of myself," Charlie realized that Emilia was ready to tell a story. He was eager to listen. To get some more insight into Emilia. "My brother gave her to me as a gift. Since college I've always been involved with this organization. They help train guide dog puppies for those who are blind. They're always in need of puppy walkers and I became involved in school."

That was not what Charlie was expecting her to say, but he listened. It was interesting and he did want to know more about the veterinarian. "Until I started working at the Veterinary Hospital, I worked with the organization. I raised two dogs, who are currently working now as guide dogs.

"When I started my full time job I wasn't sure if I had the time to raise another puppy. I told my brother that I was going to wait a little while before making a decision about raising again.

"During my first week, I was shy and not sure of myself. I'm sure you've seen that side of me. I knew what I was doing, but I just couldn't show my confidence. I wasn't connecting to any of my co-workers or my boss and I knew I was doing a lousy job. My boss didn't have enough confidence in me to give me tougher cases and I was distraught about that.

"Again, I told my brother about my struggles, and in less than a week he had a solution. He came to my door, with an 8 week old yellow Labrador Retriever in his arms. He told me that her name was Taffy and she was mine to raise for the organization.

"With that I broke down and sobbed. My father's a drunk. He always has been and he always will be. My mother died when I was young, so it was just pretty much me and my brother growing up. One day, when I was about six years old, my father, my brother, and I were at the park. My father was obviously drunk when a mutt came by and approached my father.

"The dog didn't do anything, but my father was in a terrible mood. All she wanted was for him to pet her, but my father was irritated. I didn't see what happened, other than seeing the dog alive at one moment and sick and on the ground a moment later.

"Seeing blood on the dog, I ran over, wondering what had happened. I was too young to put the connections together at that point, but later I figured it out. I saw her dying, and I wanted to save her. I didn't know what to do, and she eventually closed her eyes, leaving the world behind.

"Later I realized that she wasn't just a stray. She had a collar on, and I checked her tag to see that her name way Taffy. Taffy was always my inspiration to become a Vet. I didn't want to have another moment where I could've potentially saved a dog, but not known how to do it."

Charlie was starting to figure out how the story was going to end, and he knew that Taffy had to be saved. "At the guide dog organization, if you donate a certain amount of money, you're allowed to pick a name for one of their dogs," Emilia continued on. "So my brother donated money and picked Taffy's name, in memory of that mutt who died."

Now Charlie was sure how the story was going to end, and he didn't want to hear it. Emilia was going to blame herself for Taffy's injuries and she was going to be upset that she couldn't fix her, just like she couldn't fix the Taffy that she was named after. "She's going to be okay," Charlie stopped Emilia from continuing on. He prayed that he was right. He could not imagine what would happen if Taffy died now.

"Can I please see her?" Emilia asked.

"Okay," Charlie gave in. He had to. Even if they were not done, he had to let Emilia see her.

He led her into the room, making sure that he was the first one in. He noticed that Damon was finished working and sitting down on the bed next to Taffy. "We were just about to come get you," Damon announced.

Charlie felt relieved. The timing was wonderful. Taffy was still weak, but she was doing okay. Her eyes were still opened, and once she saw Emilia, her tail started to wag ferociously. Emilia started to tear up once again, but the tears were no longer of sadness. They were tears of joy, seeing her best friend, alive. "Thank you," she said to Damon.

---

Emilia stayed the night, with the insistence of Charlie. He told her that Taffy needed to stay put for awhile, and that she should stay to keep an eye on her. Damon could not stay for any longer, so Emilia have to be there incase Taffy had any troubles. Remarkably, she was fine throughout the night.

Emilia, Hermione, and Charlie all slept on the floor, making Emilia remember back to the days when she was little and she slept over at her friends' homes. She did not have too many sleepovers, but she did have enough to place the memory. She realized how, as a kid, everything was so much simpler, though she never wanted to go back to childhood. Not if her father was still around.

She felt slightly embarrassed for telling her memories to Charlie, but she knew she had to let them out. He had done an incredibly nice thing, first helping to get someone who ultimately saved Taffy, and then helping her through the shock. He even begged her to stay in his cramped room, so that she could monitor Taffy.

Emilia woke up before the other three and she didn't want to wake them up. She wasn't ready to rush off to work either or even to give word of what had happened, so she just kept her eyes open, staring at Taffy. It was a miracle that Taffy was alive, and Emilia wanted to know Damon's secret. If he lived so close by and he was such an amazing healer, why didn't Charlie tell her about him sooner? That would have saved some more lives. She certainly needed to talk to him. Taffy was not going to be the last attack – not until Charlie captured whatever it was that did that to the town's dogs.

And that was another story. Now that Charlie had been successful in one way, she knew that he was trying his best to capture the creature. He was not full of bull shite, and he was not making everything up. She saw him in a completely different light, just because of one action that he took. Well, it may have been more than one action, but it was one initial step that helped save Taffy.

Soon Hermione and Charlie opened their eyes, Hermione just seconds before Charlie. Even if Charlie and Hermione were having a secret affair, which Emilia somehow doubted now, she did not care. Charlie was a nice person. Charlie helped save Taffy.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Charlie asked, awakening Emilia from her blissful thoughts.

"I can make it," Emilia announced, as she stood up. She left to the kitchen, predicting that Charlie was not much of a cook. She wasn't either, but she could make the essentials.

"I don't really have much in there," Charlie said. "I was going to go out and pick something up."

Emilia opened up the mini-fridge that was in the kitchen and she realized that he was right. He didn't have one thing in the refrigerator. There didn't seem to be much food at all in the shack.

"I'll go get food," Hermione cheerfully said. "Just tell me where to go. I think you two need to talk." Emilia directed the teen to a bagel place that was always good. And before Emilia had a chance to take another breath, she realized that she was alone with Charlie. Well, besides Taffy, she was alone with him.

"Who was that guy?" Emilia asked, staring at Charlie. She felt like that was the best time to ask him.

"Damon?" Charlie asked. The two then took a seat at the kitchen table, waiting for Hermione to get the food. "He's a co-worker. He works as a Vet for the animals that are injured. His ways are a little unorthodox and he's technically not allowed to do some of the things that he does, so you need to keep quiet about this."

"What did he do?" Emilia had so many questions. Her uneasiness about Charlie was settling back in. She felt like he was lying again. There was something about Damon that Charlie didn't want Emilia to know. "I have the right to know that."

"I'm not sure," Charlie answered. "I wasn't there – remember?"

His tone was dirty and nasty and Emilia didn't like it. Charlie had been so kind the night before, yet now he was cruel. "Well, I would love for him to teach me his ways. There are some dogs that could use his help."

"Look, I went out of line getting him to come last night. I probably shouldn't have done that. Don't make this harder than it already is. He's not coming back."

"Charlie," Emilia was disappointed. His friend had answers. His friend could help, but he would not push. If there was anything that she could do to save the creatures she would, but he did not seem to care. He did not deserve the right to work with animals. "You're not going to help? Don't you care?"

"Don't do that," Charlie started to yell. "Don't make me feel like I'm a rotten person. I can't get him back and that's final. Now I'm going to do my job, and I suggest you do the same. You can stay here for as long as you like, but I'm leaving." With that he grabbed a light coat and he walked out of the door.


	9. Chapter 9

There was a cool breeze that morning that surrounded the town. The breeze swept through starting at the town's center, where the pub and all of the shops were, and ending in the north-easterly direction, at the tip of the forest. The fog continued to surround the forest, making it spookier and difficult to walk around in. It was not like many people walked through the forest, but usually it was not so creepy of a place. Not only humans stayed away, but animals did as well. All animals, but dogs.

Charlie came to the opening of the forest once again, pondering what to do. He ran out of his shack quickly, but he had no idea where he was going. He knew that he should visit the forest again, but he did not think it could help much. There was not much left to do. He already knew that the dragon could easily detect him and that she was protecting an egg. 

He had planned on going to see the dragon the night before, but that was with Hermione's cloak, and he did not have that cloak currently in his possession. He knew that he should find Hermione, so that they could look at the dragon more, with invisibility on their side. But Emilia was most likely still in the shack and he couldn't explain anything to her. 

Charlie did need to know more about the dragon's abilities in order to capture her. He had to find out all of her strengths and weaknesses before filing for a team to come in to move the dragon. 

But before he walked into the forest again, he remembered his conversation with Hermione. She said that it would be good to ask the people who knew the dragon before she was sent to Gringotts. 

He did not keep his own owl with him because he knew that he would be living in a Muggle town. Having an owl with him was not a good idea… too much questioning. 

However, his owl was smart. She landed on his arm, just as he was thinking about her. She even brought him a crumpled up piece of paper, so that he could write his letter.

_Mr Vasile,_

_I noticed that you were the one that signed this dragon away to Gringotts. Could you tell me what you remember about her? Did she ever interact with a male? Please respond as soon as you can._

_Charlie_

Charlie gave Sable the letter and he watched as her brown feathers whisked away into the air. She was a beautiful creature and he was lucky to have her. Growing up, he never had the money to afford an owl like her. His job did not have the highest of salaries, but it was enough for him. He didn't have to split it with six other siblings. He could afford an owl, after just a year of work.

Charlie then summoned his broom, realizing that could help him with his task. He was a particularly good flyer, especially after his days as the Gryffindor Seeker, and he was ready to put those skills into use, separate from a game that he found to be silly, but still quite fun. 

He jumped on the Cleansweep and prepared himself for what he knew was going to be a rough battle. He summoned a leather bag filled with Clankers as well, knowing that Gringotts dragons were trained to be fearful of Clankers – at least that's what he read in his notes. 

He started to fly into the air as soon as he walked deeper into the forest. Even though there were not many people in the forest, he could not risk being seen flying on a broomstick. Even with his limited knowledge, he knew that no Muggle would understand that. 

He lifted himself up into the air just high enough not to go above the tips of the trees. He needed the dragon to see him, so that he could try to fight against her. It was an incredibly stupid thing to do, but it had to be done. That's what the risks of being a dragon keeper involved. 

Adrenaline pumped through his system, as he pushed closer to the location that he knew to hold the fearful beast. He looked for her scaly black skin and he soon caught her eye. She did not see him right away, and she even seemed to have difficulty hearing him. He realized that she must be partially deaf, as well as blind. Finding weaknesses always helped.

He flew right above her, grasping the leather bag of Clankers in his right hand. He tried to hold it still, not wanting to shake it until the last minute. He realized that he forgot to place a Muggle-Repelling Charm, so before he started his attack, he said it quickly.

She was staring right at him, and she blew a breath of fire, aiming right at his face. He quickly breathed, _Aguamenti_, hoping the spell could possibly work. He knew he could not rely on it though, so as he said it, he flew straight up in the air, trying to get out of the path of fire.

He watched as the water completely vanished the second it hit the fire. The dragon had a dangerously strong fiery breath. Water was not going to do anything.

He came down closer to the ground, noticing that he would have been completely scorched if he had moved a second slower. He knew he had to protect himself, so he set up a Shield Charm around himself, knowing that it would not do much, but it would do enough to give him a little protection. 

"_Stupefy_," he then tried, thinking that it possibly could work. Each dragon was different and some had been completely defeated by the simple charm. Unfortunately, even though this dragon was partially blind and deaf, she did not show any effects of being Stupefied. He decided to try it again, aiming two Stupefy curses at the dragon, one right after the other.

She shook her head after the second spell was aimed after her, but besides that she was fine. Stupefy was not going to work.

She started to speed towards him, and he had to think of something quickly. He settled on _Impedimentum_, thinking that if he could slow her down, it would be to his advantage. At least that would give him time to think a little more.

That was the first spell that worked. She did not slow down extremely, but she was somewhat slower. Charlie was able to relax, as he could think for a second longer. That second was everything to a dragon keeper. 

She was furious at the spells that he was setting against her. She tried to increase her fire, shouting it in all directions. Charlie enjoyed flying away, diving from the fire. He knew that she would not fly to try to catch him because she had an egg to protect. She would not leave that egg. 

He tried a final spell, knowing that was the most likely spell to work against a dragon. "_Conjunctivitis_," he said, aiming it at the eyes of the dragon, twisting and turning his wand to create the difficult spell.

As he said it, he shook the leather bag vigorously, confusing her and making her fearful. Apparently she was trained to fear being burned by hot swords at the sound of the shake. _Classical conditioning at its best_, Charlie mused to himself as he waited for the dragon's reaction. 

The combination of the spell and the Clankers distracted her for seconds. For about twenty seconds, she was confused, and unable to see at all. Charlie shuttered at the thought that someone could make a dragon so fearful, but he knew at least that gave him hope. However, he wasn't too sure that he wanted to ever use the Clankers again. 

Charlie quickly said, "_Ennervate_," before she figured out anymore. He flew off into the tip of the forest, before she could see him leaving. 

She could be defeated. 

With a group of people, he would be able to relocate her back to the bank, where he was required to drop her off at. 

He started to walk out of the forest, lifting off the remaining spells that he had performed. As he did so, he caught sight of Hermione. "Charlie!" she exclaimed, "What happened to you?"

"I had to leave," he answered. "She was asking too much." 

"I think I calmed her down," Hermione fiercely stated. "She seems to understand now, but that wasn't a smart thing to do."

"I didn't have another option," Charlie said. "I couldn't let her find out anything."

"I guess," Hermione reasoned, a bit distracted, "Now, can I finally see this dragon?"

"I just fought against her," Charlie announced. "It's probably not a good time to see her."

"But we have the Invisibility Cloak," Hermione said. "I just want to see her. We don't have to do anything." 

Charlie completely forgot about the Invisibility Cloak for a moment. He knew that could certainly help him in the fight against the dragon. "Fine," he said. "Let's go."

---

Emilia walked into Newberry Animal Hospital, slightly earlier than her shift started. She brought along her faithful companion, Taffy, and she gently and slowly walked with her, making sure that each step was not too difficult for her.

The remarkable thing was that Taffy seemed mostly alright. She wanted to walk faster than Emilia allowed her to, but Emilia stayed strictly at one speed. Taffy would risk re-injuring herself. That was not needed, not after what had been done to save her life. 

She brought Taffy along, so that she could examine her. Damon had healed her, and it seemed as if by now she was fully healed. She seemed a little less lively, but she was relatively all better. Emilia needed to be sure that Taffy was fine because just hours earlier she was struggling for her life.

As she walked into the Animal Hospital, Emilia explained her situation and Baker readily allowed her to use the resources, so that she could see Taffy's injuries. It was difficult for Taffy to stay still while Emilia examined her, but eventually she was completely examined, and found to be completely healthy. It was like there was no attack. 

Emilia realized her continued distaste for Charlie. He had a solution and someone who could help, yet he did not do anything with that. He did enough to heal Taffy, but he did not go further with his efforts. If he really and truly cared, he would find a way for Damon to help. 

Emilia found a crate in the back for Taffy to stay in, while she was ready to start her shift. It worked out well because Taffy needed to rest up some, even if she was completely healed. No one could go through an attack like that and not need time to recover.

After saying goodbye to Taffy, Emilia grabbed a chart and looked at everything she had for the afternoon. It was relatively quiet and she soon decided that she wanted a different task for the day. Since Charlie was not much of a help, she would do it on her own. She was ready to go into the woods to see what creature was attacking the innocent dogs.

She put up a fight with Baker, but Baker finally allowed her to go with a warning to stay safe. 

Without much thought, she found herself approaching the forest that she had found Taffy in the previous night. She did not take anything to defend herself, as she just wanted to observe. She would stay at a safe distance in order to not be attacked. She also knew that the attacks were at night. It was not night, therefore she reasoned that she would not be harmed.

Earlier the temperature had been quite chilly, but since the sun had come out, it was a lot warmer. There was a gentle breeze that made it comfortable for Emilia to walk into the forest with just a light jacket.

She quietly brushed her feet against the ground, trying to make as faint a noise as possible. She did not anticipate an attack, but she wanted to be careful. She was not going to allow herself to stupidly get killed by this creature. If she was killed, there was no hope for the dogs, and she would not leave the world to allow more dogs to be killed.

She walked further into the forest, turning directions by instant. Her instinct mostly told her to walk further into the areas that had the best protection – the most tree and bush covering that could hide the creature.

As soon as she was deep into the forest, she could see a foggy patch, yet there also seemed to be heat generating in the area. She tried to view the scene closer, creeping up as far as her pounding heart would allow.

Just meters away from the foggy patch of heat, she found shelter behind a bush. Once she fully hid herself away, she turned her eyes to observe the creature in full.

The creature was a sight to be seen. Emilia had never seen anything like him, not in real life. Not even in the fairy tales. The closest she could figure was that the creature looked to be a dragon. But he was different from any dragon that she read about. He had black scaly skin that seemed to be fading away, and great spiked wings. The fairy tales did not quite portray the creature as being as fierce and dangerous as Emilia now noticed. Sure the fairy tales told about fierce, fire-breathing dragons, but up close, this dragon was more dangerous looking than any words could describe. 

Emilia was appreciative that the dragon did not spot her. She could not see his eyes, as he was looking up at some spot in the sky, breathing his flame at something. And it was evident that there was something up in the air, though Emilia could not see a human or an animal. She could see traces of light firing towards the dragon. He kept on breathing the fire in circles in the air, and Emilia soon grew fearful that he was going to turn in her direction and spot her.

That was something that she could not risk. She realized that she was an idiot to come to see what the creature was. Charlie had said that he was working on it, and she should have listened. But why didn't he tell her that it was a dragon that was in the forest? Was it even a dragon? Maybe the ridiculousness of the situation made him keep it a secret.

Emilia decided to clear quickly away from the spot. Her heart was pounding fiercely and she could not think clearly. She was in grave danger by staying so close to the dragon, so she did the only thing that made logical sense – she ran. 

She ran as quickly as she could, not trying to hide herself from the dragon. If she ran quickly enough, she might be able to go unnoticed, since the dragon was preoccupied with something else.

But she had barely run three meters when she felt a hotness touch her just beneath the ankles of her feet. Running was not working. She had to run quicker. 

She did not turn her head to look behind because she knew that would only slow her down. She just continued to run, listening to the grunts and moans of the dragon, redirecting his flame towards her.

She felt as if the fire was going to be right on top of her. She did not have much more time and she knew that the dragon was closing in. She could feel herself squinting her eyes, fearful that the dragon would burn her alive at any moment.

Just seconds before she knew she was going to be hit by the flame, she felt herself rising up in the air. Her eyes were closed and she did not watch as she expected herself to be burned. But then, she felt herself sitting on an uncomfortably thin bottom, while someone held her tightly. She had felt no pain and she was relieved. Was that it? Was her life over? Was she on her way to the afterlife at that very moment? 

Thoughts ran free through her brain, wondering what was going on. She did not want to be dead, not when she had lives to save. Yet, she could not think of anything else that had happened. There was no explanation for floating in the air. 

Then she heard a familiar voice, yelling at her, "Bloody hell," it said. "What are you doing?"

It was Charlie's annoying, yet charming voice. She opened her eyes to figure out what had happened. She couldn't have been floating in mid-air. Had he saved her at the last minute? Did her body just create the illusion of floating? 

Yet when her eyes opened, she did not see Charlie. She saw herself, just like she pictured, in the middle of the air. "Charlie?" Emilia asked. Was he dead too? Was it just his soul, talking to her, leading her into the afterworld? Why would it be Charlie of all people talking to her?

"Charlie, cloak," Emilia heard another familiar voice. It was Hermione. She didn't even know Hermione. Why was she there?

Suddenly, Charlie and Hermione came into view. They were still flying up in the air, away from the ground and the dragon, and they were sitting on a broom? 

It did not make any sense to Emilia. It was clearly not the heaven that she had pictured. Not with Charlie and a relative stranger and floating in the air, on top of a household broom.

"Charlie Weasley!" Emilia started to scream. "What is going on?"


	10. Chapter 10

Emilia Reynolds thought about the bed she was sitting on. It was small, hard, and much like that of a not-so-pleasant motel. She never imagined that she'd ever be back in that dump of a room. It was the place that Emilia and Charlie argued once again. It was the exact bed that Taffy fought for her life on.

But Taffy was no longer there. She was safely sleeping in a crate at the Newberry Animal Hospital, happy to be alive and without any injury whatsoever.

Emilia realized as she sat upon the bed, Charlie had helped her again, this time saving her own life from what appeared to be a dragon.

Charlie did not explain everything right away. They flew on the broom to his shack, and he promised that he would tell her everything there. She was currently waiting for that explanation.

She could hear Hermione and Charlie in the kitchen, discussing matters in what started as a whisper, but grew louder as they began to fight more. They seemed to be arguing intently, and Emilia tried to eavesdrop, so she could understand more about the crazy events that had taken place. At that moment, she was having trouble coming up with a plausible explanation for anything that had just happened.

"How far back should we go?" Charlie asked Hermione.

"What do you mean?" Hermione did not seem to understand.

"Using the Obliviate Spell, how much should we take away?"

Obliviate Spell? Broomsticks? Dragons? Emilia was ready to wake up from an obscure dream. It was getting close to Halloween time. Maybe she had been watching too many Halloween movies.

"I don't think you need to use it at all," Hermione said.

Emilia tried to wake herself from the dream that was going on for too long. She knew it was a child's tale about pinching herself, but she tried it anyways with failed attempts. Somehow she was stuck there, unable to wake up.

"What do you mean?" Charlie then asked. Emilia decided to keep listening. At least it was somewhat interesting. If she listened, she would have more facts to recall to Talia, when telling of the unusual dream.

"You can just reveal what you are," Hermione suggested. "Tell her everything – or mostly everything. She could help. You two can work together. At least that will help the dogs that are dying and she can be assured that you are working on the dragon problem."

So it was a dragon. Err... no - it was just a dream! Emilia was starting to think that it was not a dream. But there was no other explanation.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Charlie said. "How am I supposed to explain it?"

"I can help you there," Hermione cheerfully replied. "I am a Muggle born. I know how weird it sounds."

Did she just say Muggeborn? What were they talking about?

"I don't know," Charlie still seemed hesitant to agree with Hermione.

"If it doesn't work out, we can use the Charm from there," Hermione spoke once again. "We should at least try it. She could be understanding and helpful."

"Fine," Charlie said. "But be prepared to fight if she tries to storm out of here. We can't have someone walking around, telling the town that there's a dragon here."

Hermione agreed.

At that, Emilia tried once again to wake up from the dream. They were going to talk to her and to fight if possible. They were seemingly crazy and she did not want to have a conversation about dragons and broomsticks.

Hermione entered the room first and sat on the bed next to Emilia. Charlie sat next to Hermione, apparently afraid of being too close to Emilia. Emilia was fine with that. She didn't want to be near Charlie either.

Hermione was the first one to speak. Emilia stayed quiet, wondering how they were going to break the news to her and what exactly they were going to say. "I know this is going to sound crazy," Hermione started.

That was an excellent start. "Please don't tell me that you're a Witch," Emilia interrupted.

"You know?" Charlie excitedly answered. "Are you a Squib or something? Or do you know someone else that's a Witch? Is Talia a Witch?"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Emilia grew confused. "I just heard you guys talking about dragons and charms in the kitchen, so I suspected something. It's okay though because I'm going to wake up from this dream soon."

Charlie grew disappointed and Hermione answered, "This isn't a dream, Emilia. This is real. Magic is real."

"Okay," Emilia sarcastically responded, "Because that makes a lot of sense."

"I know it's difficult to make sense of it," Hermione cast her eyes upon Emilia's skeptical brow. "I didn't accept it right away when I first found out, but it's the only thing that makes sense if you think about it. We were talking about dragons and charms. We flew you back on a broomstick. You were almost killed by a dragon. Didn't you feel that flame? This isn't a dream. This is real, Emilia."

"Can't we just Obliviate her?" Charlie asked impatiently. "I don't think this is working."

"No!" Hermione refused.

"What's Oblevate or whatever anyways?" Emilia asked.

"It's the memory charm," Hermione explained. "If we use it we can make you forget about what all has happened."

"Go ahead," Emilia liked the sound of the charm. "Please take this dreadful day out of my memory. This is too weird." Emilia almost told them to take her childhood memories away as well. She would have liked it if she couldn't remember her father.

"You heard her," Charlie grew anxious. "It's not a terribly difficult spell. Let's just do it."

"No," Hermione repeated. "Don't you want to help save the lives of the dogs you take care of? We can help. If you keep your memory, we can help."

Emilia suddenly remembered the dogs. And she remembered the dragon. It did make sense that a dragon was attacking, however absurd that sounded. That's why the dogs were scorched and that's why no one could figure out what was wrong. For the second time, she had an inkling of a suspicion that it wasn't a dream. "Yes," Emilia replied. "I do want to save the dogs, but I'm still can't accept your theory of magic as being the cause."

"Can I at least explain it a little more?" Hermione then asked.

"Fine," Emilia answered. It couldn't hurt.

"The magic world is quite different from the non-magical world," Hermione started. "Our Minister tries to keep what we do secret from non-magical people, which we call Muggles."

Emilia sighed heavily and kept her lips closed, trying not to laugh at the explanation.

"Most magic comes down to bloodlines, but there are some exceptions, like Squibs and Muggle borns, like me. Right before we turn of age, if we have the ability to use magic, we get a letter of acceptance into a wizarding school. People from this area, at least, go to Hogwarts, but there are different schools in different countries. We go to school for seven years and then we go off to find our careers. Charlie left to Romania to become a dragon keeper. That's why he's here now."

A dragon keeper? That was ridiculous. "Okay, very funny guys. How'd you do it? That broomstick thing was pretty realistic and the dragon looked pretty good too."

"If I wanted to pull a prank," Charlie started, "I would have brought Fred and George along."

At that, Emilia noticed sadness on Charlie's face. Hermione seemed upset or sad as well sand Emilia realized that it probably wasn't a good time to speak. Not that she wanted to anyways.

"I mean…," Charlie's speech drifted off and he seemed to have tears forming in his eyes and difficulty speaking.

"It's okay," Hermione said, grabbing a hold of Charlie's hand, as if to comfort him. That was the first time that Emilia saw Charlie so vulnerable, though she could not figure out why. He did not say anything particularly disturbing.

"What's wrong?" Emilia finally asked, curiosity taking over. She was terribly confused, but still not buying the 'we're wizards' thing.

"Fred and George are two of Charlie's brothers. They're twins, and...," Hermione started to explain, but paused. She seemed to be having trouble saying it as well.

"Fred died in June," Charlie finally spat out, even more tears fogging up his eyes. His expression was unlike Emilia had ever seen before from him – he was having trouble keeping up his composure.

"I'm so sorry," Emilia immediately replied. Charlie was tearful, distracted, and quieter. It was evident to Emilia that he missed his brother and that at least this aspect of his life was real. "I didn't mean to…-"

"It's okay," Charlie interrupted, sniffling as he did so. "I didn't think before speaking."

"Fred was killed by the darkest wizard," Hermione continued to explain. "Voldemort killed and tortured much of the wizard population and Fred died in the final battle. We won the war that day."

"A war?" Emilia asked, shocked. She couldn't believe that was a war going on, without anyone noticing. She was a bit more accepting of the wizarding world, but she held back her reaction. The way Charlie cried for his brother made her realize that he couldn't be making it up. Fred's death was at least real.

"Voldemort came into power once again," Charlie said, yet he seemed to have trouble saying the Voldemort bloke's name. "And the only one who could stop him was the infant who was the only one to survive his attack. There's a long story about him, but basically Harry set off to destroy him, along with two of his friends, my youngest brother, Ron, and Hermione."

A million more questions opened up for Emilia. She asked the one at the top of her mind. "Hermione? But she's just a kid."

"A rather mature one that is," Charlie answered. "Harry's the same age, and so is Ron. They were given a difficult task to destroy him, but they succeeded in the end. If you really want to read more, I think my brother, Percy, is writing a book that should be due out soon. That's not really the important part. The wizarding world is just getting back to normal again."

"Just how many brothers do you have?" Emilia seemed intrigued by the mention of so many relatives.

"Just five, er… four now. And one sister. Ginny's the youngest, but she's quite tough, after growing up with six brothers."

Emilia laughed. She couldn't imagine having such a large family. And they all seemed close. She always wanted a family like that.

More questions sorted through Emilia's mind, but she stayed relatively quiet. Thinking of family hurt her, and she withdrew back to her quiet, shy self. She was fearful to say much more. And she was in shock about the opening up of a new world. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react, but she tried to stay calm.

Lately, whenever she was around Charlie, her thoughts just seemed to pour out. She should not have opened up so much to him before when she told him about Taffy's story. She did not want to reveal anymore about her past, so suddenly she tried to stay quiet.

"Basically we wanted to tell you this," Hermione broke the silence, "to show you that we're trying. Charlie's been studying about this dragon for quite awhile, trying to figure out what's going on. I came here to help because it is partially my fault that the dragon is here."

Emilia again wanted to know more, but she continued to withdraw from the conversation. She was nervous to let out any more details about her life. As long as it was not directly related to her work, she didn't need to say anything.

"It's not easy," Charlie started to speak again, looking towards Emilia. Emilia's eyes wandered off of Charlie's, as soon as he made contact. "But letting you know helps. At least you know what's truly going on."

Emilia suddenly thought of another question that she knew related to the dogs, so she felt the need to ask it. "That friend of yours, he's a wizard isn't he?"

"Yeah," Charlie replied. "He's a dragon healer from my work. I would love for him to come heal all of the dogs, but that's not possible. If he comes, then all of the Muggles would be suspicious. And we'd prefer not to have to take away anyone's memory."

"But isn't there something you can do?" Emilia still had hope. There was a way that the dogs that were already injured could be saved, but they were hiding it. She was going to fight to get them safe if there was a way to help.

"I know a little about healing," Charlie answered. "But not like Damon does. I guess I could try my best to help, but you'd have to hide it. We'd need to come up with a solution that is possible in Muggle ways and we can't cure them all at once."

"That's fine," Emilia was overjoyed. She wanted to believe in the wizarding world just if it meant that the dogs would be healed. That was the most important thing to her.

"Okay," Charlie answered. "But if I help, you have to promise to keep this a secret. You can't tell anyone, not even Talia."

Emilia realized that might be a difficult thing to do, but she wouldn't let it stop her from healing the poor animals. If that meant keeping a secret from her best friend, she was willing to do it. She was willing to do anything, so long as they were safe. "Okay," Emilia agreed. "Let's do it."


	11. Chapter 11

After a relatively quiet day at work, Emilia rushed over to Charlie's place, wanting to know more about him and his life as a wizard. She was pretty intrigued by the idea of what he was and she had to know more. She still had trouble accepting that magic was real, but hearing more would do well to confirm it. And if he confirmed it, then she would know it was real, and she would know to trust him with her dogs. Because it was only for the dogs that she wanted to know more.

When she walked into Charlie's room, she noticed a trunk, with clothes scattering all over. She had not noticed the mess before, since before she was just concerned with Taffy's welfare. She continued to daze her eyes around the room, hoping to find some clues about Charlie's lifestyle.

"Wait, I thought that there was only one bed in here," Emilia suddenly realized that there was a difference in the room. She took a seat at the table in the kitchen and she waited for an answer, realizing again that she spoke unintentionally. She was supposed to keep quiet. She didn't want to reveal anymore of herself to Charlie.

"Well, I've decided to stay for a little while," Hermione declared. "And I needed a bed, so I conjured one."

"You…you just made one with your magic?" Emilia was intrigued. Magic was pretty awesome.

"Yeah," Hermione answered like it was no big deal.

Emilia was surprised by that, but she decided not to question it any further. She was there for work and work was all she cared about. Even if she had to repeat that to herself continuously in her head, she would. She had to focus on her end task and that only.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Charlie then asked. "Not like I have anything, but one of us can go get something."

"No, I'm okay," Emilia quietly answered, in a shy manner. When Charlie's focus was back on her, she became nervous. She had not been nervous around him for quite some time, but now it felt like her heart was fluttering continuously rapidly in pace and her palms were started to grow sweat. One look into his eyes and every part of her felt weak, and she didn't know why.

"Okay," Charlie said, as he and Hermione took a seat at the table next to Emilia, Charlie sitting across from Emilia and Hermione sitting to her left side.

Emilia turned her eyes away from Charlie, trying to focus more on Hermione. She knew that she was a perfectly capable person, yet she felt like she was going to have trouble communicating with Charlie, even about work. There was just something about him that made her weak. She was just beginning to realize it.

Yet, in another way, he made her strong and vocal. She believed that she would have a communication problem, but prior experiences held true. She began to blurt out questions, without realizing what she was saying. Even though she did not want to reveal much of her personal life, she did. And she did it in a comfortable, intense way that did not make her look weak at all. She was weak in the inside, yet she was able to hold her ground and communicate in ways that she had never done before.

But she was nervous that wasn't always going to hold trouble. She didn't have any control over those random things she said.

"So how are you going to get this dragon out of here?" Emilia asked, averting from Charlie's deathly stare.

"I'm working on that," Charlie answered. "That's what I was doing when I saw you."

"You mean when you saved me," Emilia interrupted, angry at herself as she said it.

"Yes, that's quite true," Charlie smiled. "Though I'm not one for boasting."

Emilia smiled. She respected that.

"Once I have it all figured out, I'm going to get a bunch of my colleagues and we'll all work together to get her back to the bank."

"The bank?"

"Yeah," Hermione jumped in. "That's why it's my fault. She was locked up in the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, to keep the money safe. Harry, Ron, and I had to rob the bank and we set her free to help us escape, but you can't tell anyone about that."

"Uh… okay," Emilia answered. She couldn't quite follow anything that Hermione was talking about, but she was not planning on saying anything, mostly because she didn't understand.

"So she's really going right back to the bank?" Hermione turned around to ask Charlie. "That's sad."

"I know," Charlie looked miserable at that fact. Emilia could see that he truly cared about his dragons, just like she truly cared about her dogs. "That's what I've been told to do. I'm waiting for my boss's reply though. I told you he was the one who signed her over to the bank. I'll learn more from him."

"Okay," Hermione answered. "You know, I think I'm getting kind of hungry. I'm going to go pick up some food. Are you sure you don't want anything, Emilia?"

"No, I'll be fine," Emilia answered. "I can't stay for very long anyways." Emilia really had no reason to not stay for long, other than not wanting to. She had to commit herself to leaving after a certain time.

Hermione then left, leaving Emilia and Charlie together. When Emilia realized that she was alone with him, she felt the nervousness that she had been feeling earlier intensify. She stared into Charlie's eyes once again and she picked up on his nervousness. At least they both were sharing a similar feeling.

"If the dragon goes back to the bank, she'll be tied up again, right?" Emilia asked. She had to get rid of the awkward silence.

"Yeah," Charlie answered, again miserably. "She doesn't deserve that, and she's going to have a baby. I'm going to have to try to talk them out of it. She's not going to be happy if she's separated from her baby."

"There's a baby?" Emilia was confused. Charlie had never mentioned that part before.

"Oh yeah," Charlie said. "I forgot to tell you. That's why I think she's been attacking the dogs. Hungarian Horntails don't usually go after dogs. Dogs are small meals for them, especially here where there is not a huge selection of dogs. They typically eat sheep and goats. Horntails have some pretty weird hormonal cravings, and she's decided on dogs. Once the baby is born, she shouldn't crave them anymore."

"And when will the baby be born?" Emilia was somewhat fascinated. She was not sure that she liked the dragon since she was eating her patients. But if the dragon stopped her dog craving and moved onto something more natural, she realized that it might not be too bad, especially if there was a baby involved.

"I'm not sure. I don't know when the egg came out, so I'm not quite sure how long it will take. I'll know a lot more after my boss writes back to me."

"You don't agree on sending the dragon off to the bank, do you?" Emilia asked, reading Charlie's emotions.

"No," Charlie frowned as he answered. "I think she should go back to a reserve. She's half blind and terrified. If we send her to the bank, she's just going to get locked up again and she's going to go crazy in that place." Charlie took a breath, before he continued, Emilia anticipating his words.

"But I'm sure they'll like that. She'll be more dangerous and a better defense. They're not thinking of her though. They're just thinking about themselves. That's their only purpose of dragons."

Emilia saw Charlie's worry and it reminded her of something so familiar. It took about ten second before she realized that look reminded her of herself, and her passion for dogs. She would do anything for them. Charlie would do anything for dragons. "So don't take her back," Emilia suggested, knowing that's what she would do.

Charlie thought about her words for a moment before he responded saying, "It's not that easy. The Ministry wants the dragon back. There's nothing I can do."

"Does the Ministry know about the baby?" Emilia asked.

"No."

"Well maybe that would help. If you really love dragons like I think you do, you've got to fight for them."

"Maybe," Charlie mused, thinking over Emilia's thoughts. They were simple, but simple might be the key. An outsider's view was not so terrible.

--

Early the next morning, the weather was not particularly pleasant. There was a cold rain that tried to gloom the mood, but neither Emilia nor Charlie felt the gloom. Emilia even skipped into work that morning, knowing that it was going to be a successful day.

Emilia spent about an hour more at Charlie's and then she left. She actually enjoyed talking to him, especially when they went into the topic of how they were going to heal the dogs that had been attacked. He told her that in order to do so he needed to get approval for being able to use magic in front of her. There was apparently a law against that, but Charlie said it would be taken care of right away.

Emilia's boss, Kristen Baker looked upon her suspiciously, as she strolled into work. "Fun night?" she asked, with a twinkle in her eye.

"Actually, yeah," Emilia answered, before realizing Baker's true meaning in her question. "I mean…-" Emilia started to explain, but never finished. She was sick of Baker's desires to learn more about her love life. Maybe if she provided some detail, she would finally let it go.

"Oh really?" Baker smiled with glee. "Who were you with? Charlie?"

"Yep," Emilia answered, giving brief answers that were, in fact true.

"Emilia," Baker changed her tone of voice. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. You guys are working together. You don't want to that to get in the way of your relationship here at work, and Charlie's not the most responsible guy."

"I can't just have a friendly relationship with him outside of work?" Emilia asked. Now she knew Baker's true intentions in her question. She didn't want Emilia to date. Whether it was really specific to Charlie or not, Emilia was not sure, but she figured that Baker did not want her dating at all. Dating could interfere with work.

"Oh," Baker answered. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry."

Emilia smiled, quite pleased with herself. That would get Baker off her back for awhile.

"Speaking of the devil," Baker then announced. Emilia turned to see a red headed man, who had so many freckles on his face that it looked as if he was tanner than he actually was. He had a wide smile on his face. It was probably the first time that Emilia saw a genuine smile form on Charlie Weasley's face and that smile made her feel some type of tingling feeling inside of her stomach. That smile finally gave him a look of sincerity; a look that told her that he wanted to be there, and he was there to save the dogs, just like her. "Any updates?" Baker asked.

"It's being worked on," Charlie stated. "But I think I have something that might help the dogs that are sick. If I could steal Emilia, then I can try it out."

"That's wonderful," Baker smiled as well. Even if she was somewhat of an annoying boss, she did care about the dogs. Even Charlie could tell by her expression and tone. "I'd like to watch what you do too."

That came as a surprise to Emilia, and she waited for Charlie's reaction. They couldn't let Baker watch what Charlie was going to do. Emilia was not even sure what he was going to do, but she was sure that it would not be normal for the so-called Muggle to watch.

Emilia knew there was not much work to do that morning. She briefly had a chance to look over her chart, and she saw that there was not much piled on. Just two appointments and whatever emergencies that would come in for the day, and she did not want to have to hope for emergencies. "It's really nothing much," Charlie explained, clearly trying to get Baker to back away. "I just need Emilia to hold the dogs still, and I'm going to give them this antidote that I've been working on."

"What antidote?" Baker became interested. "What is it?"

Emilia knew that Charlie would be stumped, so she stepped in to answer. "He started telling me about it last night," Emilia explained. "It's a home remedy that he made up once he saw these injuries. It has lanolin in it. It should work."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Baker was hesitant. "Have you used it before?"

"Yes, ma'am," Charlie quickly answered, with assurance. "It's helped several dogs, but none this severe. That's why I haven't tried it yet."

It didn't make Emilia comfortable to know that he was a good liar. In fact, it made her even more suspicious about his magic. She was not quite sure whether to still believe him. All of the evidence led to the fact that he was telling the truth, but he could also lie with assurance, and that made her skeptical of his abilities and his story. And he was going to treat her dogs.

"What's it called?" Baker asked.

But Charlie also saved Taffy. Somehow he did and somehow she knew that he was telling the truth. "It doesn't have a name yet," Emilia responded, trying to feel confident that helping Charlie was the right thing to do. "They've just submitted it for approval, so it's not officially out yet, but we have to try it. It may be the only thing that can help."

"Fine," Baker responded. Emilia looked to see Charlie breathe a sigh of relief. He also seemed to be sweating just a little bit, which was not something he did when he told her about magic. He had to be telling the truth. "But I still want to watch."

That didn't help out their case. If Charlie repeated that it was not a big deal, then she would know that something was up. Emilia wasn't quite sure what they could do to prevent her from watching. "Fine," Charlie said cheerfully. "Let's go."

Emilia eyed him suspiciously, wondering what he was doing. She hoped that he had a plan, and he seemed confident enough that he did have one. Otherwise, it would turn into a disaster.

They reached the HR, which was easily Emilia's least favorite place in the hospital. Most of the HR was filled up of dying dogs, in pain and struggling to survive. They all wanted to live. They had owners who loved them and wonderful lives to live, especially for three of them, who had not even reached three years of age.

They settled into the room, and both Emilia and Dr. Baker waited for Charlie to make his next move. Right away, Charlie searched through his pockets, seemingly trying to find something. When he looked lost in concentration he explained that he forgot the antidote in his car. Emilia was even impressed that Charlie knew what a car was. From hearing stories about the magical world, she realized that wizard's typically did not use many wizard things, like the automobile.

Charlie rushed out of the room, and Emilia again wondered what he was doing. Her first thought was that he was going to run and never come back. That's what she would have thought he would do after the first couple of times that she saw him. Now that she knew him a little more, she had confidence that he wouldn't run. He was coming back.

And sure enough, a few minutes of silence later, he came back, with a medicine container in his hand. "Okay," Charlie announced almost breathlessly, rushing into action, as soon as he walked back into the room. "Who do you want to test this out on?"

"Missy," Emilia quickly responded. Missy was a six month old Shepherd mix, who was severely sick. She was in the worst condition, and the most likely one to die. She felt like trying it out on Missy would be the best thing.

The three walked to Missy's cage, and noticed her lifeless expression. She did not move when they came near, but as Emilia opened up her crate door, she noticed a tiny flicker of a movement at the end of Missy's tail. She still had some life in her. She was happy to see the humans that took care of her.

"Okay, you should hold her, Reynolds," Charlie proclaimed. Emilia bent down and took Missy out of the crate. She knew that Missy would not move, but she still kept her arms around her just incase.

Emilia now was not sure what Charlie's plans were. She knew that when he left, he had set up something, but nothing was distracting Baker. She shifted her glance between Baker and Charlie, and she tried to pick up on any sign that he gave her. She thought that he may want her to do something, though she was not sure what it was. She wasn't good at reading other people's secret desires.

Then, she heard him whisper something, as he bent down, holding the medicine. Within seconds, Baker's pager went off.

Baker jumped up, not quite sure at first what it was. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm going to have to answer that."

"Can we do this without you?" Emilia then asked, realizing that was Charlie's doing. "I don't want to keep Missy out too long."

"Fine," Baker quickly responded. "I'll try to hurry back though." Baker ran out of the room and left Charlie and Emilia alone.

"_Ennervate_," Charlie quickly said, before Emilia could even ask him what he did. As he said it, he took out a stick-like object and twisted it in a certain motion.

A shot of light came from the stick, which Emilia reasoned to be a wand, however ridiculous that was. It hit Missy, and Missy instantly perked up. Charlie said two or three more spells and soon Missy stood up, wagging her tail, eyes bright, and mouth opened with a doggy smile.

"It worked!" Emilia was thrilled. "It really worked!"

"Yeah," Charlie said. "That was a close one. You're going to need to go to the lobby though. I'll keep an eye on Missy, while you go take care of the distraction."

"What did you do?" Emilia asked.

"Go!" Charlie demanded. "Now!"

Emilia obeyed and quickly abandoned Charlie and Missy. She soon made it to the front desk to see Baker facing an outraged Hermione.

"I want to see her!" Hermione yelled. "Now!"

"Ma'am, please settle down," Baker tried to speak in a calm, yet reassuring voice. Hermione seemed to have knocked several papers off of that front desk. She was creating a scene in the vet's office.

Emilia walked close enough for Hermione to see her. She figured that Hermione wanted to see her, but she was not sure why. She decided to stay quiet and wait for Hermione to act, so that she could act based on Hermione's direction. "Emilia, over here," Hermione finally called out to her.

Emilia walked towards Hermione. "What are you doing here, Hermione?" Emilia asked.

"Do you know her?" Baker asked, confused by the interaction.

"Yes," Emilia quickly responded. "She's," she hesitated, before continuing, "She's my cousin."

"Oh," Baker spoke. "I'm sorry then. I didn't know."

"I told you," Hermione said angrily. "Em, we need to talk."

"You had to come here now?" Emilia acted angrily. "Why?"

"It's urgent," Hermione declared.

"I'll be right back," Emilia told Baker as she left to walk outside with Hermione.

"That seemed to work," Emilia whispered, as soon as she was outside. "Thank you."

"Of course," Hermione smiled. "I hope we did okay."

"I think it was pretty believable, but what am I supposed to tell Baker if she asks what you wanted?" Emilia couldn't think clearly. They had accomplished the task of healing Missy, but Emilia had one final obstacle in the way.

"Just tell her that it's personal," Hermione suggested. "I guess you could tell her that I'm pregnant or something, but personal's probably okay. Hopefully she won't want to know more."

"Okay," Emilia answered with a smile. Their plan worked out.


	12. Chapter 12

_Charlie,_

_Yes, I was the one that signed the dragon to the Ministry, but I was forced to do it. I don't know much. _

_Dragos Vasile_

Charlie sighed as he read over the note that his boss finally sent him. After a relatively successful day of healing Emilia's dogs, he was quite upset to come home to a letter in which his boss gave him as simplistic of an answer as he was used to. He couldn't elaborate some?

Charlie should have figured his boss would do that. He needed an explanation, but Vasile wasn't being too helpful. He decided to send another letter in return, prying for detail on a possible explanation for the dragon's pregnancy.

_Mr Vasile,_

_I don't blame you on signing the dragon away. I just want to know more about her. She's pregnant and I'm not quite sure how that could have happened. If you have any theories or possible explanations, please let me know. I want to make sure it is safe before I relocate her._

_Charlie Weasley_

Charlie took his owl and sent her back to his boss in Romania. He sat down on his bed, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down before returning to work.

Hermione started to speak as soon as the owl took flight. "I still can't figure out what the green stuff around her mouth is." Hermione turned the pages in her books rapidly trying to find some type of explanation. "There's no mention of green slime on dragons anywhere."

"Yeah, I've never seen anything green connected to dragons before," Charlie answered. "It could have something to do with the suppressed memories. Do humans ever have some type of residue on them, after a suppressed birth?"

"No," Hermione quickly replied. "I've checked. There's no mention of anything like that anywhere. It just doesn't make sense."

"It's okay," Charlie declared, trying not to worry. "I doubt it's a big deal. She doesn't seem to be having trouble with anything." In the big picture, a little bit of green pigment was nothing to worry about. Charlie was usually thorough, but their main worry was the dragon's baby.

"I hope so," Hermione replied as her eyes focused back to her book. She didn't want to give up on her research.

Charlie was done with research. If Hermione wanted to look into her books more that was fine, but he was finished. Besides the baby, Charlie's main focus was taking the dragon back to the bank. He still didn't want to send her there and after talking with Emilia he felt that desire to defy the Ministry even more. The overly shy Emilia would risk anything for her dogs, wasn't he the same for his dragons? That meant that he had to go against the Ministry's desires.

"Can I borrow your owl?" Charlie suddenly asked Hermione, ready to jump into action. He wasn't going to give in easily. He was starting to form a plan.

Hermione perked her eyes up from her book once again and she shook her head.

Charlie started to write another letter, this one to the current Minister. If anyone could help, he could. Plus, Shacklebot was a family friend. If anyone could help, it was him.

_Minister Shacklebot,_

_I have been assigned to capture the dragon that escaped from Gringotts and to return her to the bank. The problem is that she has laid an egg, and her baby will be born soon. I don't think it's a good idea to return her when she is going to have a baby to take care of. She is not in good shape either, being partially blind. Would you consider allowing her to return to the Romanian reserve? _

_Thank you for your help._

_Charlie Weasley_

Charlie took the letter and gave it to Hermione's owl. The owl quickly flew into the sunset and was out of sight in minutes. "That's a fast owl you've got," Charlie commented.

"Uh huh," Hermione said, not taking her eyes off of the book that she was reading. She seemed to be growing annoyed at Charlie's interruptions.

Charlie sat on his bed, not knowing exactly what to do. He was particularly uneasy and he knew he should go to sleep, so he could go back to the Vet Clinic in the morning, but he was restless. He would not be able to sleep, especially while Hermione was awake, reading through her books. He had to continue to help in some way.

Minutes later, as Charlie fidgeted in his bed, he saw Hermione's tawny owl, outside the window of the shack. He was pleasantly surprised when he realized that the owl was back so soon. That had to be good news.

He quickly let the owl in and grabbed the letter she was carrying. He read it instantaneously.

_Charlie Weasley,_

_Thank you for writing to the Minister of Magic. We acknowledge your letter and we will get back to you as soon as possible._

_Jefferson H. Pope_

_Secretary of the Ministry_

Charlie sighed, again displeased by the news he received. He should have figured it wouldn't be easy to get the new Minister to read his letter right away.

Charlie crinkled the letter up and continued to lie in bed. He still couldn't go to sleep yet; he wanted to do something. Luckily, another idea suddenly came to him.

"Can I use your owl again?" Charlie asked Hermione.

"Go ahead," Hermione grumbled, keeping her eyes focused on _Dragons of the Stone Age_.

Charlie wrote out another letter, this one intended for his father. He asked if his father could talk to Shacklebot about the dragon problem.

Charlie saw the annoyed glare of Hermione's owl before he sent her on the way once more. Hermione and her owl both at that same annoyed look at him tonight.

--

Early the next morning, Charlie woke up to a tapping sound at his window, followed by Hermione's shout of, "Charlie!"

"What? Huh?" Charlie was confused, remembering that sleep did not come easily for him that night. He didn't even realize that he had eventually drifted off to sleep.

Soon he jumped out of bed, seeing the owl at the window and also peeking to see that Hermione was in the same position, with her books open on her bed, as the previous night. "Were you up all night?"

"No," Hermione quickly responded. "I got about an hour of sleep, but I really couldn't sleep. I'm fine though."

Charlie was concerned, but he was also interested in the owl that was flying outside his shack. He opened the window quickly letting Hermione's owl in and giving her an owl treat, as she happily allowed Charlie to take the letter from him.

_Charlie,_

_I talked to Shacklebot about your situation. He said it would be fine to send in another dragon, as long as your boss agrees to send the dragon back to the reserve in Romania and that you send along another dragon to the bank._

_Your Father_

Charlie was ecstatic, yet as he read over the letter, he realized he had a bit of sorrow bottled up inside of him. He was appreciative that he would be able to save the dragon, yet he did not want to have to pick another dragon to go to Romania. It was a terrible fate for any living creature.

Even as he had that sorrow, he knew he had to do it. This dragon had suffered her years and she deserved her freedom, or relative freedom. She had a baby to take care of and it was always much easier for the natural mother to take care of a baby, rather than for dragon keepers to do the work.

Hermione allowed Charlie to use her owl again and he sent a quick letter off to his boss, asking him if that would be alright. He did not think his boss would have any objections, so he did not put any fight in his letter. He just sent the owl off, feeling better and more confident about his job.

"I think you're right," Hermione soon began to speak. "I can't find anything about this green stuff. I think it may just be because of the suppressed memory."

"Okay," Charlie said. "You don't have to do any more reading. Just let that be the answer for now."

Hermione sighed, as she opened her mouth briefly, presumably to fight Charlie, but then closed it soon after. She closed her book, and had a defeated look upon her face. "What are our plans now?"

"I just need to hear back from my boss," Charlie stated. "I think I'm going to go to the Vet Clinic to heal some more dogs, but besides that I'll just be waiting for a response. You can come if you want," Charlie offered, realizing that he would be leaving Hermione. She had just declared that she was not going to be studying anymore, but Charlie didn't leave her with many options of things to do in the meanwhile.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hermione said. "The last time I kind of created a bit of a scene at the Vet Clinic."

"Oh yeah," Charlie remembered how Hermione had been helpful to create the distraction that allowed him to treat the dogs. "Well if you want, you can go home for a little while. I'm sure Ron would love to see you." Charlie didn't want Hermione hanging around any longer, trying to find a solution to the dragon problem. She found an answer, and that was what she had to stick with. More studying would not do any good.

"I'll just stay here," Hermione, said perky and upbeat. "I don't mind doing a little more research. I might even go to check on the dragon later to see if that will help."

"Don't," Charlie automatically answered. "Please don't make me worry about you. Just go home and stay away from the dragon. It won't help much if you get killed."

Hermione was stubborn. "I won't go home," she offered, "but I'll stay away from the dragon. Just let me stay. I can't go home now."

"Fine," Charlie agreed, before he left for the Vet Clinic.

--

Emilia waited anxiously for the arrival of a certain red-head to the Vet Clinic that she had been working in for several years. The previous day had been the best for her in recent days of sorrow and devastating loses. She wanted to see Charlie again so that more dogs would be healed.

That didn't even seem like the main reason that she wanted to see Charlie. She didn't know why or how, but some feeling made her realize that her need to see the handsome wizard was not just because of the dogs that she worked so tirelessly to save. She was not sure what it was, but she just wanted to see him.

He was not at the Vet Clinic in the early morning hours, and that made her nervous. He had been so helpful the previous day, and she was soon beginning to think it was just a dream. It wouldn't be too difficult to pass it off as a dream, as she would not have believed it to be true, just several days prior. Not too many people would believe that some type of magical potion and spell could heal dogs.

Emilia stepped around the corner of the HR and she found her best friend, Talia, holding a chart ready to see a patient. She had not spoken to Talia that day and she actually realized that she had not spoken to Talia too much recently. Emilia had been spending her days with Charlie without Talia's company. It was rare the Emilia was around other people without Talia, but this was just strictly professional.

"Hey Em," Talia said when she noticed Emilia walking by.

"Good morning," Emilia answered, staring into her friend's eyes. Talia did not seem so well. She had a gloomy look to her expression, like something was missing, and it was upsetting Emilia. Usually Emilia knew everything that was going on in Talia's life, good or bad, yet she didn't know what was upsetting her at that moment. Emilia had been distant from Talia, but she had to be distant. It's not like Talia would believe anything that she had gone through. Emilia was still not sure if she believed in magic herself. "Is everything okay?"

"Not really," Talia answered, with a sigh. "Where have you been? I haven't had my best friend for awhile. I miss you."

"I miss you too," Emilia was suddenly rather upset. The problems with the dogs were starting to get fixed, but the other important part in her life was going through some type of crisis that Emilia didn't know anything about. "Why don't we talk right now? The meeting room is cleared. We can take a private moment."

"I have so much work to do," Talia couldn't accept Emilia's offer. "Now's not a good time."

"Are you sure?" Emilia said. "I could help. Today's not too busy for me."

"No, that's okay," Talia refused. She then took a moment to sigh before she continued to speak. She had noticed someone enter the office, and it took her a moment to regain her composure as she pointed out his presence to Emilia. "Charlie's here," Talia finally said, as she pointed in the direction of the front door.

Emilia noticed Talia tense up as Charlie walked into the hospital. Talia's eyes remained fixed on him, and Emilia couldn't help, but notice that something was going on. But she knew that there couldn't actually be much going on between Talia and Charlie because she had been with Charlie so more recently. "Is there something going on between you two?" Emilia finally asked with curiosity.

"No," Talia answered weakly. "No," she repeated, seemingly to reassure herself. "I rejected him awhile ago. How stupid could I be to reject him?"

Emilia finally realized what was wrong with her friend. She was not sure how it happened, but Talia suddenly wanted Charlie again. And because of that realization, Emilia had another realization, an epiphany that she could barely believe for herself.

Emilia was somewhat jealous.

She knew that if Talia liked Charlie, she would eventually win Charlie over. Charlie was already head over heels for Talia, and Talia was an expert when it came to guys, even if she already rejected them. Emilia was jealous because she suddenly wanted Charlie to herself. That feeling deep inside of her finally made sense to her. She did not have many crushes in her lifetime, but now she had one… one that she knew she would never be able to win over because her best friend would be able to impress Charlie better than she would.

Emilia liked Charlie.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Deceptions

Chapter 13 – Deceptions

"Emilia," Charlie focused his eyes on Emilia, not Talia, the second that he found the two. Emilia keenly noted the brief eye exchanged and though of it as a slight victory in her eyes.

But could she really focus on the fact that she liked Charlie? Talia did too, and she couldn't hurt her best friend. No, she couldn't pursue her feelings when Talia liked Charlie. Emilia was too good of friends with Talia to let a boy ruin their friendship.

"Hi Charlie," Emilia answered trying to hide her eyes from him. Because of her sudden realization, she had to focus intensely to keep herself from giving into Charlie's handsome charm. She did not have much experience with men, and she had never tried to avoid a crush before, but she had to now. She had to for Talia.

"Talia," Charlie recognized, as he finally stood in front of the two women, who both tried to hide their obvious infatuation with him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great," Talia answered, brushing her hand through her blond locks as she did so. Talia was prepared to fight for Charlie because she finally realized that the thing that was different about him intrigued her even more. She wanted to know more about the mysterious stranger and she would do everything to get him to notice her again.

"Good," Charlie smiled not focusing much attention to Talia, even when she was trying to appeal to him. He then turned to Emilia and said, "I could use your assistance, Emilia."

"I can help," Talia quickly interjected. She was not used to the attention of a man being directed to Emilia instead of herself. She didn't think Emilia was intentionally trying to win his attention, but Emilia was who he was noticing at the moment. She would have to stop that from happening. "I'm the Vet Tech. Emilia has more important work to do."

"It's okay," Emilia answered. She knew that Charlie would be doing something that Talia could not see, since Talia did not know about magic. It was Emilia that Charlie needed and Emilia felt gracious for that. She wouldn't feel as guilty taking Charlie away from Talia that way. "You told me you have a lot of work to do. I can take a minute with him."

"Well, thanks." Talia faked a smile. Emilia recognized the fakeness, but she carried on without giving any indication that she noticed. It was an important thing to keep Talia out of the loop about what they were doing.

Charlie and Emilia started walking together towards the HR together. Emilia took a quick glance at Charlie and noticed that he was dressed in a dark green sweater that illuminated his intense blue eyes. The dark circles under his eyes were somewhat troubling to her. He looked rather tired, yet Emilia couldn't help but admire the tiresome look. It was a look of determination - a look of hard work. She knew that she carried that look many days of the year, though she did her best to hide it with her assortment of makeup that she used only on the most treacherous of days. And Charlie actually did not look terrible with the dark circles under his eyes because he was so enchanting anyways.

Charlie's hair was somewhat crazy looking as well since it was sticking up in all directions, obviously not brushed recently. Emilia imagined through his defined looks that he probably had not gotten too much sleep recently, though she decided not to question him about that. Instead, she found a more suitable statement pop out of her mouth, "your hair looks quite stunning this morning."

Charlie stopped walking the moment that Emilia spoke, quite astonished by shy Emilia's words. He did not quite know Emilia well enough to know if she was being sarcastic or if she was serious. If she was serious, he didn't know quite how to react, so he went with the sarcasm. "Shut up," he teased, as he put his hand through his hair. "I didn't have a chance to mess with it this morning. I've just been dealing with so much."

"Oh," Emilia answered, as the two started walking once again after the brief pause. Emilia wanted to let him know that she was not teasing him, but she knew the statement that came out of her mouth had been quite awkward. Instead, she decided to pry more into his situation because she believed that she could help, even just a bit. "What have you been dealing with?"

Charlie sighed deeply because he didn't want to explain everything that was sorting through his mind. His one task of the day was to help the dogs, and that was supposed to be a distraction from everything else that was going on in his work. But now Emilia knew too much, and she was bringing up topics that he just wanted to divert his attention away from. "Just some magic stuff," he explained not expanding on anything.

At first, Charlie thought that revealing the magic world to Emilia would help him out and in some ways it did. It meant that he had someone that could help him heal the dogs and someone who could distract the other Muggles from catching onto any wizarding thing.

But it also meant that Emilia wanted to know more about the Wizarding World and his troubles with his world. He was starting to get used to being able to go into work for the day and not having to talk about any of the troubles of the world in which was so unlike the Muggle society. It was refreshing and different, and he enjoyed it much like his father did. But since Emilia knew about his world, it became much more complicated, and he wasn't sure that he liked it that way.

"Oh," Emilia realized that she was prying too far into his life and his position. She had grown quite comfortable in his presence in the last couple of days and she soon realized that she was probably growing too comfortable around him. He likely did not want to hear what she had to say. The only thing that she was useful for was her work. Not many people wanted her as a friend or as a shoulder to lean on.

The two soon made it to the HR and Emilia smiled at the empty cage that had previously been occupied by an injured dog. Charlie would only be able to help the dogs one at a time because it would be suspicious if too many would start healing at once. But Emilia was fine with that. She would have loved to have healed all of the dogs at the same time, so they did not have to suffer for as long, but with Charlie there at least they would all be saved eventually. Most of them could wait a few days before anything terrible happened to them.

"Do you have a preference for who we heal today?" Charlie asked, staring at the three dogs, all of which were still sick. One was a pure white dog, an American Eskimo dog named Yuri, who had the sweetest expression. Then there was a Golden Retriever named Hund, who was a deep red color and who was lying down, breathing heavily. Finally there was a Beagle mix named Seppie, who was sitting up, but not paying any attention to the two.

"Why don't you pick?" Emilia smiled. They were all at about the same level, health-wise, and she thought it would be beneficial for Charlie to pick out the dog he wanted to help save for the day.

"How about that one?" Charlie pointed to Hund, the five year old Golden Retriever.

"Sounds perfect," Emilia answered.

The two then walked over to Hund, who was lying down in his crate, head down and eyes closed. He seemed quite sick, and Emilia felt a brush of anxiety and fear pass through her body, but she instantly perked up as Charlie started to perform his magic.

Within seconds Charlie healed Hund so that he could stand up. His red muzzle immediately pressed against Emilia's arm wanting a pat. Emilia easily gave in, but soon stepped aside, as she realized that she should call Hund's owner to tell him of the news.

As Emilia walked over to the phone, she noticed Charlie leaning down to Hund's level. He immediately placed his hand on Hund's head and gave him a scratch. Emilia noticed Hund's tail, wagging with evident thrill of the attention that he was receiving. While Emilia talked to Hund's owner, she smiled at Charlie, the non-dog person's demeanor. He was giving attention to the dog, and he seemed to be happy about it. He did care… at least a bit.

Emilia finished the rare joyful call and Hund's owner planned on coming later to pick him up. She walked over to Charlie, who was still patting Hund. "He's a sweetie," Emilia said as she leaned down to her knees as well to stroke Hund's soft fur.

"He is quite sweet," Charlie confirmed.

"Really?" Emilia asked, nervous about Charlie's statement. He was actually being reasonable about the whole dog thing. He had always been somewhat disinterested in dogs, and that was the first time that he actually seemed to care.

"Yeah, I guess so," Charlie started to explain. "I mean I guess I can see why you care so much. I s'pose if I were a Muggle, I'd be a veterinarian as well. I might be more interested in wolves or something, but dogs are pretty cool."

Emilia's eyes lit up. She imagined her mouth to be wide open in shock, but luckily she refrained from actually doing that. She was in disbelief. Charlie was… well… amazing.

Emilia had already been starting to fall for the enigmatic stranger. The first time she met him she had a terrible feeling about him. He was just a stubborn, inconsiderate prat. He didn't seem to care about the dogs and he seemed to be putting off work. But as Emilia learned more about him, she was able to tolerate him more.

He really was not putting off work like Emilia had assumed. He was difficult to communicate with, but that was only because he had to conceal his cover. He had to work alone and he had to come up with lies to feed her. She could understand that the magical world needed to be hidden, though she liked being in on the knowledge of the world, even if she couldn't participate herself.

But Charlie still was not a fan of dogs. Even though their relationship grew stronger, she knew that she could not truly like a person if they did not get dogs like she did. Emilia knew that she was stubborn and probably being somewhat ridiculous for that, but she couldn't help it. Animals, especially dogs were her life. Everything else came after that.

So the fact that Charlie said that dogs were pretty cool made Emilia's mind swivel off in a million directions. She had already started to give in to Charlie's charm, but that fact changed everything. She could definitively say that she liked Charlie. But what about Talia?

"Emilia!" Charlie yelled. "Dr. Reynolds, what's wrong?"

Emilia's face turned towards Charlie as she ended her daze. "What?" she asked. "Oh, sorry."

"I should probably get going," Charlie soon announced. "I'm waiting to hear back from my boss."

"Oh," Emilia was interested. "What are you going to be doing with the…"

"Don't say anything here," Charlie interrupted. "I'm sure it would be fine, but I'd be more comfortable talking in private about this."

"Sorry," Emilia was disappointed. She was fascinated about the dragon. Even though the dragon had almost killed her, Emilia knew under Charlie's protection she would be safe observing the fiery beast. She was an animal lover of all kinds, and she had quite an urge to actually observe the beast, even from afar.

"M-maybe you can come over later," Charlie said somewhat stuttering on his words. He was nervous about mentioning it to Emilia. He couldn't read her like he was able to read other people. He wasn't sure if she would be interested in what he was doing or if she was terrified like most Muggles would be, but having her around could be beneficial.

"Really?" Emilia asked, somewhat too eager for her own liking. "I mean, that would be great." She had to relax in Charlie's presence. When she was around him she tended to talk a bit too much and show more emotion than she did when she was around other relative strangers.

"Sure, just come by whenever you're done with work," Charlie smiled. He was pleased that he had actually gone through with making the offer. The two then walked towards the exit of the HR.

The HR was a room that was not entirely secretive or stealthily hidden for those who worked at the Animal Hospital. In addiction, there was a large window where one could look inside at the animals and there was a window at the top of the door. It made it easier to see if any of the animals were in immediate danger.

Peeking inside of the large HR window was Talia, eyes wide and mouth wide open in interest. She had surely seen something that had interested her. "Damn," Charlie muttered. "Do you think she saw what we did?"

"I don't know," Emilia answered, somewhat worried, yet somewhat entertained. She knew that Charlie did not want to reveal his wizardry background, but if Talia found out for herself, maybe that would be fine. At least that would make Emilia and Talia's relationship a whole lot simpler.

"Just act casual," Charlie demanded. "We're just going to dissuade her, so just act ignorant about the situation. I can't let another person know about this."

Charlie was the one to open the door while Emilia walked slowly behind him. Talia instantly met up with the pair and she still showed a shocked expression. "What just happened in there?" she immediately asked.

"Charlie healed a dog," Emilia answered nonchalantly.

"But no," Talia muttered. "He... he had a stick in his hand, and colors came out of the stick? And Hund… Hund is better."

"Yeah," Emilia calmly answered. "Hund is better. I'm not sure what else you're talking about though."

"You okay, Talia?" Charlie asked with a smirk apparent on his face. Emilia carried the same expression. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Well I," Talia was still confused. She didn't like being confused like this. "I didn't sleep too well, I guess. Are you sure you don't have a stick in your pocket?"

"Why would I have a stick in my pocket?" Charlie asked amused.

"I don't know. Never mind." Talia walked as far as she could from the two.

Even though Emilia hated to lie, she had to admit that it was quite funny. And from that demonstration she realized how well magic could be hidden from the world. It did not take much for Talia to be convinced that she was seeing things.

Charlie and Emilia continued to walk to the front of the Animal Hospital, Charlie to leave for the day, and Emilia to grab another chart. They snickered to themselves about the incident, though Emilia did feel cruel for lying to her friend and laughing about it.

As they were walking towards the front, Emilia noticed something unusual - an owl had just flown into the lobby. "Charlie, do owls have any significance in your world?" Emilia immediately asked, pointing to a tawny owl that had disrupted the flow of the hospital.

Charlie followed the direction of Emilia's hand, and he soon placed his eyes upon the creature that had caused a rather interesting debacle at the hospital. "Crap!" he exclaimed, as he ran off towards the bird.

Emilia followed slowly behind, joyfully smiling. She was curious to find out what the owl had to do with magic and why he had come.

Charlie approached the owl as patient's owners, Dr. Baker, and Emilia watched in wonder, curious as to what Charlie was going to do. Charlie did not notice the array of spectators at first, so he slowly took the note from the owl, without thinking to do it in private.

"What are you doing, Charlie?" Dr. Baker finally questioned him. He turned his head to the direction of the woman's voice. Before long he realized that he had an audience that did not just include Emilia.

Charlie lowered the letter and he slowly placed it behind his back. His eyes glanced around the room as he saw several eyes stare at him in disbelief. He had just taken a letter from an owl. And he was expecting it. That was not normal in the everyday world, and he knew it, even if he did not know too much about Muggle affairs.

"Charlie, we've all seen the note," Dr. Baker announced, since Charlie so adamantly decided to hide it behind his back. "What are you up to?"

"I-uh," Charlie muttered, trying to figure out a plausible explanation for his activities. "Well-uh, my friend and I," Charlie tried to talk slowly, so he had enough time to think of a reasonable excuse. "We-uh decided to train owls," Charlie was starting to come up with his fib. "And we got the idea from the carrier pigeons. We wanted to see if we could teach the owls to deliver messages." The only thing Charlie could do at that moment was wait to see if the excuse was accepted.

"You did that with an owl?" Baker seemed impressed. "I've never known them to be very intelligent."

"This one is," Charlie was more confident, evidenced by the way that he spoke faster and with more assurance. "He's the only one we've been able to train so far. He seems a lot different from the others though. I don't think any of them could do what he does."

"I've heard of something like that before," Emilia stepped forward to help Charlie out. "Someone was able to train an owl to do simple tasks. Not quite letter delivery, but simple tasks such as pressing a button for food like Skinner did with pigeons. Charlie must know a lot about operant conditioning."

"So what does the letter say?" Baker was more interested in the letter than in the explanation. However, Charlie did not enjoy her prying eyes.

Charlie took the letter that he was sure that he would get in trouble with if he actually showed it to the Muggle population. He was curious to see what it said, but it was more important for him to make up something that he could tell to the curious doctor.

"It was just a test," Charlie finally answered, after faking to skim over the letter. "That's all it really says."

"Can I see it?" Baker asked still curious.

"I think that's a little private," Emilia interjected. "And don't you have work to do?" Baker was being a bit too bossy and Emilia wanted Charlie to have his privacy.

Charlie whispered a thank you to Emilia as Baker declared that she did have work that needed to be done.

--

Emilia's day shift dragged on. She waited impatiently to leave so that she would be able to confront the man that she had fallen for. It wasn't that she was particularly bored at work, rather she enjoyed and loved her job, but she just wanted to learn more about him and his world. He was an interesting character and a lovely man. The animals seemed to do fine on their own as long as Charlie came to help out every once in awhile.

The day finally ended and Emilia found herself at her locker, gathering all of her possessions, ready to leave. She wanted to leave as quickly as possible, so that there wasn't a chance of her getting stopped by a co-worker who needed her for some reason or the other.

She proceeded out the door, her mind filled with several scattered thoughts. She started to search for her car, but as she did, she heard her name being called, which instantly reminded her of the last time that Talia caught her leaving. It was that night that Talia forced her to go to the pub, which was also that night that she first met Charlie.

Emilia rather grudgingly stopped as she heard Talia's voice. She wanted to ignore it, but after several years of friendship, she knew that would be inappropriate. "Hi Talia," Emilia answered with fake cheer.

"Do you want to do something tonight?" Talia asked as she caught up with Emilia.

A slight breeze under the darkened sky sent a brief chill in Emilia's body. She jumped slightly as she rubbed her arms, warming herself. "I don't think so," Emilia answered, hoping that Talia wouldn't insist too much on spending time with her. She just needed to see Charlie and that unfortunately kept her from making any plans with her best friend. "I need to just go back and sleep."

"Come on," Talia's voice was filled with cheer. "We haven't been to Teddy's in awhile, not since…"

"No thanks," Emilia cut off. She remembered that last time, and she remembered how Talia coaxed her into going to the pub. She didn't want to be forced again. She just needed to see Charlie.

"You're no fun," Talia's voice gloomed. "You used to be fun." The blonde left the doctor's side with a shrug and a sigh, bemoaned by her friend's recent static behavior.

Emilia reacted without a care. She grabbed her keys, found her car, and headed home to change so that she would not look too dreadful in front of Charlie's pretty blue eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - Stolen

The breeze swept by quite briskly outside Cavalier Cottage in the quaint town of Newberry. Emilia Reynolds stood with her faithful yellow dog by her side, rubbing her shoulders, as she realized that it was getting quite cold out at night recently. It was mid-autumn, and winter was creeping up just around the corner. Newberry did not get tons of snow, but the winters were often cold. Emilia did not typically enjoy those days where she had to help treat shivering dogs, displaced in the cold, and cats cold and starved. The winter was always rough on the animals.

Emilia briefly touched her hand to the door of 102, and she made three quick knocks before resting her arms on her shoulders once more. As Emilia knocked, Taffy stood next to her, resting in a sitting position while her tail swayed back and forth under the night sky.

Charlie quickly opened the door, smiling as he saw Emilia and questionably confused as he stared down upon Taffy. Emilia immediately set to explaining. "I haven't been paying much attention to her lately," she began. "I hope you don't mind if I bring her over here. She needs more attention."

"Oh, that's fine," Charlie answered, opening the door wider as to let them in. As soon as Emilia and Taffy walked inside, he closed the door.

Emilia walked further into the room, taking a seat at the kitchen table, while Taffy wandered around, running and taking in the smells of the place. "I only have her for three more months," Emilia said numbly, suddenly saddened by the thought of having to give Taffy up.

"Guide dog school?" Charlie asked as he took a seat next to Emilia.

Hermione did not budge from her position on the bed, her papers and books spread out everywhere.

"Yeah," Emilia answered. "It never gets easier to give them up. And Taffy's special, you know."

"I've heard that she's a special one." Charlie smiled and stared at the dog, who eventually settled to lie down at her raiser's feet. Charlie bent down and gave her a pat on the head, causing Taffy to wag her tail with excitement.

"You don't really like dogs, though, do you?" Emilia asked, knowing that this was the best opportunity to talk to him about his feelings of her favourite furry critter.

Charlie shrugged, pulling his hand away from Taffy as he spoke. "I may be starting to warm up to them."

Emilia smiled. "I think I could eventually warm up to that dragon. She just has to stop eating the poor dogs."

Charlie frowned at the mention of the word "dragon." He wasn't too thrilled with how his work was going.

"What's wrong?" Emilia eagerly asked, realizing that she was becoming more and more at ease in Charlie's presence. She was starting to be able to talk to him like he was one of her friends or maybe even something more.

"You know that letter I got?" Charlie asked, his eyes focused away from Emilia. "The one that the owl sent to your work?"

"Yeah," Emilia asked, briefly laughing as she remembered the incident.

"It was from my boss. I was arranging to have the dragon sent back to our reserve in Romania instead of going back to the bank. The Minister gave me permission to send her back as long as my boss approved it. Well, I just found out he didn't approve it."

"Why not?" Emilia asked, upset that Charlie was having problems.

"I don't bloody know why not," Charlie answered, and they both heard a heavy sigh from Hermione's direction. The pair turned at the same time to focus on her, but they turned back as soon as they realized that she was just frustrated by whatever book she was reading.

"What are you going to do?"

As Emilia asked that question, she noticed how stressed out Charlie looked. He must have been worrying about it since he got the letter, and she'd come here with her silly little worries about Taffy. How ridiculous was that?

"Wait, what's Hermione doing?" Emilia realized that Hermione was hard at work doing something that probably involved the dragon.

"She's trying to find a place we can take Linnie."

"The dragon?" Emilia asked.

"Yes, my boss happened to mention that she has a name," Charlie said in a sigh.

Emilia put her thoughts together, realizing what Charlie was plotting. "Wait, are you going to steal her?"

"Yeah," Charlie whispered. "That's the only thing I can thing of. I'm not taking her back to that awful bank."

"That's so awesome," Emilia found herself saying. She covered her mouth, as soon as the words slipped out, and she wanted to cover her face up in embarrassment.

Charlie laughed. "You like breaking rules?"

"I… well, I've never done it before, err… except for that one time, but if there was something wrong with a creature, then I would do it. I know how much the dragons mean to you."

"Hold on." A wide grin appeared on Charlie's face. "What about that one time?"

"Oh, well that was nothing," Emilia mused. "They were going to let her go anyways."

"Tell me," Charlie persisted. Rule-breaking seemed completely out of Emilia's character.

"Well, in vet school there was this cat we were working with. We were practicing stitches on her, and I soon grew attached. She was the sweetest thing. She purred whenever I touched the top of her head, and her eyes gave off this look of compassion that made me feel terrible every time I put a suture on, even if she could not feel it.

"My teacher told us that we were going to practice minor surgery. The vibe was that we were going to be doing it with the same cats that we practiced suturing with. I knew it wouldn't end well with surgery practice, and I couldn't do that to sweet Cali. So one night I broke into the teaching lab. I took her to my truck, and I ran off with her. I drove a couple miles away from campus, and I let her go. I couldn't keep her because I thought they would find her with me.

"Later, I found out that we weren't using live cats for the demonstration. Cali would have been spared anyways. Oh, and pretty much everyone knew that it was me that let Cali go. Luckily, they couldn't find any evidence, but I still wonder what happened to her. I wish I could have kept her."

Charlie laughed. "That really happened? Emilia Reynolds stole a cat?"

"Yeah," Emilia answered, seriously.

"Any tips for stealing an animal then?"

"Make sure your plan is fully developed before you start, I guess, and be prepared to change it along the way." Emilia didn't have any real sound advice because Charlie's situation was a lot different.

"Okay," Charlie answered, amused, as he turned away from Emilia. "How's it going, Hermione?" he asked.

"We're going to need a lot of people," Hermione turned her head towards Charlie and Emilia, putting down one of her books on the desk.

"I know that," Charlie answered. "I've moved a dragon before, and I know what it takes. I think my family can manage it."

Charlie had already decided that he needed to get his family involved. They were the only ones he could trust. Even though he felt awful asking them to put their lives at risk, he had to save the dragon. He needed their help to do it.

"Well, I think I've found a path we can take," Hermione started to explain. "There's a place in the north that looks good. It's kind of secluded, but there are lots of different farms nearby where she and her baby can find food. It's mostly wizarding, too, so if she attacks, they'll know how to defend themselves."

"No, that's not good," Charlie automatically answered. "If it's wizards, than they'll know she's there, and they'll know to report her to the Ministry. We need to take her away from wizards."

Hermione was concerned. "But she could harm people." She didn't want Linnie to attack defenseless Muggles if she ever went out of control.

"I'm going to be there," Charlie muttered. "I'm going to take care of her, make sure she has enough to eat and make sure she doesn't attack them."

"You're going to stay there forever?" Hermione asked.

"For as long as it takes," Charlie answered. "This is my fault, and I'm going to fix it."

"How is it your fault?" Hermione asked.

"Well..," Charlie started. "I…-"

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine," Hermione declared. "I was the one that broke the dragon out."

"And, for that, I'm grateful," Charlie said. "You allowed her to have her baby. You gave her a life, and now they want to take it away from her. I will make sure that doesn't happen."

--

It was getting quite chilly in the Newberry forest. The great winged creature huddled on top of her cement-coloured egg, keeping her body in a tight clump so she and her egg could stay warm. Her baby was the only thing she was worried about. Her wings ached with pain. Her back was growing quite frail, but she ignored her illness. None of that mattered to her.

Keeping focused on her task kept her sane, but it was difficult to keep herself focused for very long. To help with her task, she recalled memories… memories of happiness. None of her recent memories were particularly happy. She had to think to way back to before she was locked up in that darkened cage. To when she was free in the Romanian Reserve.

Dragon memories were not exactly like human memories. She thought in glimpses of time rather than specific moments. She thought of days flying through the Romanian Reserve with her freedom by her side. She thought of green patches of grass and sunny skies at times and of cold temperatures at other times. She thought of the caves she'd hid in when she just wanted to be alone. She remembered moments where she'd looked down upon other females of her kind who were hoping to find Tezcacoatl as a mate.

But then her thoughts turned dark. There was a time in her life when everything was happy and wonderful for, but that wasn't a very long time. She no longer could think of happy memories without thinking of dark times. She had more specific memories than most dragons. She could remember one day in a cave before Tezcacoatl, a time where she was just spending a happy and carefree day.

_A thick-headed man entered the cave. He seemed amused when he saw her at first, but she knew he was not exactly thrilled to be there – even a dragon could sense that human emotion. She didn't know how much he would regret doing what he did for years to come._

_She did not attack him at first. He was causing no harm, and she knew to leave humans alone if they weren't causing trouble. She could smell his fear, but she couldn't sense the danger to herself at first. If she had, she probably would have left right away. _

_She flew around the cave, showing off her quickness to the man. She enjoyed threatening him, flying directly at him and backing away at the last minute. She knew she relied on the malicious man, but she still took pleasure in teasing him. His body shook with fear each time she approached, and she smiled at her accomplishment. Her life was good._

_Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain hit across her abdomen. Several more pains followed, and as she tried to figure out what had happened she felt drowsy. She eventually drifted off to sleep._

Her thoughts were vague after that. She remembered passages of time where she was resting somewhere with many men gazing upon her. She tried to stir, to cause trouble, but she was too weak. The passages ended up just being flashes of time, like normal dragon memories. By the time she was fully functional again, she could not even determine if they were real or not.

She'd awakened about two weeks later in the same cave. She hadn't been sure what had happened, but she felt odd when she woke up. There were not any obvious differences other than (she noticed whenever she was harmed) a green liquid that seemed to have infiltrated her blood. She was annoyed with what had happened, but she did not pursue it any further. She'd lost two weeks of her life, but she was okay.

She did not make the connection several months later when realized that her flame suddenly dispersed fire at a much greater distance. She'd gained the attention of all of the males, including her Tezcacoatl. She'd became a very powerful dragon.

As Linnie continued to fantasize about her past times, she felt a quick rattle of the egg she had been protecting. She smiled, as only a dragon could smile, when she realized that her baby would be joining her soon.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – The Escape

The plans were all set, and Charlie was in a rush. He wanted to get Linnie and her baby away from Newberry as soon as possible… before the Ministry or his boss could even think about the situation and decide to start sending more dragon keepers out to capture Linnie and bring her to the bank.

Charlie's siblings all agreed to help him, even his little sister. He tried to prevent Ginny from coming along, but she insisted. She was of age and in her last year of school. She was capable of helping, even if that meant escaping from Hogwarts for a day. Harry gave up the Marauders map for a day, so that she could sneak out. She had been using the map quite frequently, little to any of the Weasley brothers' knowledge, in order to meet up with Harry. Their relationship was beginning to form again, but this time in secret.

They planned to move Linnie tonight, wanting to move as quickly as possible. Hermione had finally found a town that was mostly made up of Muggles. It was a town very similar to Newberry, which made Charlie at ease. Linnie was already used to living in Newberry; she would be able to adjust to the new town relatively easily… at least that's what Charlie hoped.

Emilia wanted to help with moving the dragon as well. She told Charlie that she had experience, but he refused to acknowledge her act of rebellion as experience. In addition, she had no way to protect herself in case of anything going wrong, and Charlie could not move the dragon and have to worry about protecting Emilia. He was at enough of a disadvantage already.

Unfortunately Emilia was stubborn about staying away from the dragon. Charlie had told her enough about the magical world that she was interested in at least watching Charlie work. It couldn't hurt to just watch. Charlie had assured her that their plan would make sure that he was successful. He said he wouldn't get his family involved unless he was fairly confident in the plan. Hermione and he worked out a way that created the least amount of risk possible. Emilia was not sure what it was, but they said something about not using a Clanker, but using some Impending spell to make Linnie slower. Charlie was planning to fly around on his broomstick, since he was some great Seeker or something. He wanted to get the dragon to follow him. That didn't exactly sound like a safe plan to Emilia, but what did she know about magic?

She planned on following Charlie and Hermione and Charlie's family to where the dragon was. She was going to lag behind, hoping that no one would notice her hiding behind the bushes. She couldn't miss the dragon moving spectacle.

There was a tap on the door and Emilia realized that Charlie's family had arrived. Emilia asked Charlie and Hermione if she could stay hidden because she wasn't prepared to meet Charlie's family yet. She was not focused on giving a first impression yet, and she would have been too nervous to talk or to even speak coherently.

She probably would make a fool of herself. She hated meeting new people, especially when she felt it important to make a good impression. She was beginning to like Charlie and if anything developed further, she would have to eventually make an impression with his family. She didn't want to ruin that already. She wanted to have at least a chance to get his attention before she lost the confidence of him and his family.

Emilia stayed hidden outside as she watched the family of redheads walk inside the shack. There were several of them, like Charlie had explained, along with a brunette, who walked as if he was part of the family as well, though his hair gave away that he was not. Emilia realized that was probably Harry Potter, some kind of superhero in the wizarding world. To her, he just looked like an average teenage boy. In fact, he actually looked rather dull to Emilia.

The family did not stay long in the shack. There was not much room, and they just came to move the dragon. Emilia was not surprised when she saw them walking outside just seconds later. When he was outside, Charlie had a smile radiating on his face, one like she had never seen him display before. His face lit up, and he was happy with his family. Really happy. She had never seen him like that before. He had never laughed or smiled like that around her.

That caused her to realize why he was so unhappy that first night. He had a life… a life that involved more than what Newberry had to offer. He had a family that was more important to him than some Muggle girl who couldn't even speak properly.

She had nothing… no magic, no attractive feature, not even an attractive personality. There was no reason for him to be happy in Newberry, where there were mostly just cats and dogs. There was only one dragon that was causing trouble. That dragon was the only reason he was there.

Emilia felt herself growing weak at her realization. She was nothing to him, but she had let herself grow attached to him. He was probably just trying to make the most out of his situation by keeping in contact with her. It was Hermione that pushed him to share the secret. He wouldn't have even let her know about magic if it wasn't for Hermione.

But now that Emilia knew about magic, she couldn't let it go. She couldn't just go back to a normal life after what she had seen and heard. The most important thing in her life was still the animals and with magic saving them would be a lot easier. So she couldn't let Charlie leave without getting him to promise to help her use a bit of magic if an animal could be saved. That was something that she wouldn't be too shy about demanding.

She started following the family towards the wooded forest. She kept her distance, knowing that she couldn't stay too close to them. She feared the dragon, but even worse, she feared Charlie's family finding her. No matter how much she tried to tell herself that nothing would ever happen between her and Charlie, she still was nervous about leaving a bad impression on his family, especially when they were so close.

As they dug themselves deeper into the forest, closer to the spot where Emilia remembered heading herself when she ran into Linnie, she saw them start to prepare to jump onto broomsticks. The broomsticks were similar to the one that Charlie was on the night that he saved her.

Seeing the broomsticks again, she realized how odd it was to her how stories of witchcraft were so close to the actual truth of what it really was like. Even so, no one believed that magic was real. It was so evident to her now, but shouldn't it have been obvious before? Didn't anyone ever run into a dragon or see people running around with sticks in their hands? Now it wasn't difficult for her to believe that witchcraft was all around her, but she was so oblivious to it until Charlie and Hermione told her the facts.

Emilia watched as the family mounted their brooms, all except for the eldest of them… Bill, she believed. He stayed on the ground for some time, and he began to chant some type of spell.

It was weird to Emilia because as Bill muttered those words under his breath, she felt like she was not in a place that she was supposed to be. She had left Taffy in Charlie's shack by herself and suddenly she felt awful about it. She no longer wanted to observe the dragon relocation ceremony when Taffy was all by herself.

She scurried off in the night, forgetting much about the reason that she came in the first place. She did not go slowly, as her thoughts were on Taffy, rather than remembering that the dragon was somewhere in the forest. Her feet brushed against the sticks, and the leaves crunched quite loudly, as she turned back to find her dog. But her steps were loud enough to attract that great creature of the forest.

Linnie's nose focused on the Muggle girl. She smelled much different than the wizards that she had lived around for most of her life and realizing that she was a Muggle was an easy task for their scent was much simpler. She also remembered the girl's scent from before, and she remembered how the foolish girl would have been an excellent meal if she was not saved by the obnoxious wizard, who had a tendency to steal her meals.

All that Linnie could smell at that moment was that girl. She was cautious about leaving her egg, but that girl smelt delicious… she had not tasted human flesh for a long time, and she wanted her badly.

She abandoned her post, letting her nose guide her, since her vision barely focused anymore, especially at night. As she did, she heard his screaming again, through her fading hearing, "Emilia! No!"

Charlie saw the veterinarian running off towards his shack, seconds after his brother muttered the Muggle-Repelling Charm. Emilia's footsteps were too loud and her scent too great for the dragon not to notice. Before his plan even started, it had to be changed. Linnie wanted to eat Emilia. Charlie would not let that happen.

He swooped down on his broomstick, as the dragon aimed her fiery flame at the girl. He grabbed Emilia just as the flame came out and held her in front of him. They both felt a portion of the flame hitting the left side of their body, though Charlie was a bit more caught in the damage. However, he did not feel the effects as much because he had felt the fire many times before.

"Harry, grab the egg now!" Charlie said, as he realized it was the perfect opportunity for the egg to be captured. Linnie was focused on Emilia, and her diversion from her egg would not last long.

"Charlie," Emilia whispered to him, as his hands pressed against her waist, so that her could keep her steady on his broomstick. "I need to go back. Taffy needs me."

"What's wrong with Taffy?" Charlie asked concern apparent in his voice. He didn't need another problem to deal with while he tried to think quickly about the dragon relocation.

"She's lonely," Emilia answered. "I need to get back to her."

"Taffy'll-have-to-wait," Charlie spoke quickly, anxious to continue with his plan. "Oh, dammit, it's still the Muggle-Repelling Charm, isn't it?" He quickly lifted the charm off of Emilia, and Emilia instantly forgot about her concerns for her dog that was locked away safely in Charlie's shack.

"I'm sorry," Emilia said, as soon as she realized what she had done.

"Shh…" Charlie whispered, wanting silence to ensue. "Let me focus." Charlie watched as Harry triumphantly flew to the front of the pack of Weasleys with the egg in his hands.

It seemed as if Linnie was starting to realize that her egg was missing and as soon as she was sure of it, her nose guided her to Harry.

Harry was prepared to move quickly, flying frantically forward on his Firebolt. Charlie had to admit that after seeing Harry fly, he was probably a much better Seeker than Charlie had even been. That boy was quick, and Charlie was thankful for having his speed tonight.

Soon the Weasley family members all pointed their wands at Linnie, waving them, and saying, "_Impedimentum_!" Linnie started to slow down a bit in speed, as Bill took his place on his broomstick as well to prepare for the relocation. He was supposed to be the distraction for the dragon, but Emilia proved quite useful in being the distraction.

Hermione shouted to Harry when he needed to change directions, as the group of wizards, the one Muggle, and the dragon flew off into the nighttime sky.

Ginny, Charlie, Percy, Bill, and George soon all muttered the Disillusionment Charm at the same time, hoping to hide everyone. Muggles could not know about their journey. Wizards couldn't know either. The relocation of Linnie was not exactly a legal action.

After the quintet said the spell, Emilia looked down upon her body to see that it kept changing. She was matching the background. She lifted up her eyes to see that was true for everyone, including Linnie. Now that had to be one of the tricks that kept Muggles from knowing about magic.

They journeyed forward into the nighttime sky. Emilia realized that they were traveling pretty far at a fast paced speed. She would have never been able to just observe everything like she planned. She did not even remember why she thought she would be able to. Curiosity was the main reason she was able to pick up on, but that was just stupid. She didn't know much about wizards, and she shouldn't have even tried to find out. Each time she tried to get involved, she ended up messing it all up.

Emilia kept quiet like the rest of the family, as they all flew on. At times Charlie and the others would direct spells at Linnie, slowing her down and causing her difficulties. She was always kept just far enough behind so that she could not reach Harry, even though she tried to burn him with her fiery flame. She was even successful at some points, laying her flame down on the ends of Harry's ankles. Hermione seemed to shout some type of spell that healed Harry's ankles right after Linnie reached them.

Emilia felt safe with Charlie holding onto her. She had already realized that nothing would ever happen between them, but she was also starting to figure out that that she would need to distance herself from the wizarding world. Charlie was fixing the town's problems by removing the dragon, so she would not need him after that. And once he was gone, she would not try to find anything else about magic. Not when she knew it would cause more harm.

So Emilia tried to savor the moment she had with Charlie. She could feel his tight stomach muscles rub against her back, and she felt his strong arms surround her sides at times when turns were needed. He was such a gentleman, holding onto her, making sure that she was situated on the broom okay and that she was not going to fall off. And if the dragon's flame even came near the pair, he shielded her, putting his body in front of hers in every position, so that she would not get hurt. She felt the comfort of his warm breath rub slightly on the back of her neck, and she wondered how she could have ever hated Charlie.

After what seemed like a long journey, but was probably just a half an hour, Hermione announced to Harry that the forest up ahead was where they wanted to place her. Harry started to make the descent, and Linnie and the others followed. Harry could not move as quickly since the landing required them to slow down, so Linnie started to creep closer to the group. She kept breathing her fire upon Harry, and Harry had to act quickly to move out of the way of the flame. His maneuvering reminded Emilia of a video shooting game. It wasn't quite as amusing when the target was a living person.

When they were about three meters from the bottom of the forest, Harry could not stay atop his broom any longer. All at once, Emilia saw him falling off the broomstick, the egg rushing out of his hands, ready to collapse onto the ground. She immediately acted on impulse, jumping off the broom, trying to steady herself to catch the egg. She didn't exactly land on her feet, but she landed well enough to be able to save the egg from shattering into a million different pieces.

She took a deep sigh, proud of her accomplishment, but soon looking upwards to see Linnie's milkily pink eyes staring down at her. She held out the egg in front of her own body, hoping that Linnie would see it and know that producing a flame would harm her baby.

As Emilia's heart began to race, her mind contemplating what to do next, she heard Charlie shout, "_Impedimenta_," and the dragon slowed down again.

"Put the egg down, quickly!" Charlie instructed to Emilia.

Emilia obeyed and moved away from the egg and the dragon, as she watched Linnie in slow motion.

Charlie lifted Emilia back onto the broomstick, while Linnie started to move more quickly now. Charlie caused the broomstick to fly up quite rapidly, as Emilia saw Harry quickly attach a chain to keep Linnie tethered to a tree. Emilia doubted it would keep Linnie there for long, but at least it was something. Luckily, Harry was able to maneuver himself quite well in order to get the tether set up.

**They **all seemed to be able to fly away without injury, though one of Charlie's brothers had to pick up Harry because his broom had shred to pieces. But Linnie was tied to the ground, and no one was badly hurt. Emilia was amazed at how well it had all worked out in the end.

Charlie continued to rush the broomstick up into the air, higher than Harry or the others had gone. Emilia was not sure what he was doing, but she was not going to question him, as her heart slowly began to ease off from the emotion of the high speed chase.

When they were over a hundred meters above the ground, Charlie finally stopped flying. Emilia began to wonder what Charlie was thinking, as the two settled down under the star-filled sky.

Emilia felt warmth sitting so close to the man that she may have cared the most for in the entire world. His tired eyes stared softly into hers when he quickly twisted himself around, so that he could face her.

"Thank you," he finally spoke, aware of Emilia's speechlessness. He took a hold of Emilia's hand, feeling her warm presence. He had grown to like her very much. "You saved the egg. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along."

"I'm sorry," Emilia finally spoke, not particularly paying attention to the expressive signs Charlie was displaying or even the passion that filled his voice when he spoke. "I shouldn't have come along. You told me not to…"

"Shut up," Charlie demanded. "Just shut up." He moved his lips closer to the girl, Emilia finally reading his intention. Not far under the darkened sky and brightly-lit stars, the two pressed their lips together passionately, their heart beats beating as one, and their attention solely focused on one another.


	16. Chapter 16

"I…I'm sorry," Emilia announced, breaking free from Charlie's kiss

"I…I'm sorry," Emilia announced, breaking free from Charlie's kiss. Her face turned a bright shade of red, though it was hidden rather well underneath the midnight sky.

"You are?" Charlie asked, dismayed by her response. "I mean, it was my fault, actually. Not yours."

Emilia was too embarrassed to respond. She once again struggled with her words, not knowing how to react after the sudden kiss. She did quite enjoy it, but she didn't know Charlie's thoughts and she was fearful. He couldn't actually like her. No, she figured the only reason he only kissed her because he was appreciative that she rescued Linnie's egg.

"Well, we should…err… I guess… go back." Charlie stumbled on his words as well. He felt as awkward as she did. He never knew how to express his thoughts clearly around her.

Charlie lowered the broomstick, getting no response from Emilia and interpreting her need to distance herself from him. She must not have liked him like he suspected, or rather, she disliked the kiss. Either way, he had made a mistake, and he needed to focus on the job again. He was still there for the dragon, and he would be sure to get Emilia out of his mind.

Several moments later, Charlie spotted the location where the rest of his family gathered. They were just outside of the small forest that held Linnie, in the town that looked quite similar to Newberry. Charlie and Emilia advanced to their location, keeping quiet as the breeze carried on, causing Emilia's hair to scatter in several different directions.

Charlie and Emilia soon dismounted the broom, Emilia seemingly content to get off of the rather uncomfortable traveling device. Charlie surveyed his surroundings and immediately noticed everyone was staring at him, waiting for some type of action. Though he hadn't meant to be, he was the designated leader of the group, and he didn't know what to do or say.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce us?" George asked, helping Charlie along with his leadership duties.

"What?" Charlie took a moment to capture his thoughts, before actually answering. "Oh, this is Emilia Reynolds, everyone. She's the veterinarian at the Animal Hospital that I've been working with."

"The veteran-what?" Ron was perplexed as his brother spoke in terms that he did not recognize. "Did you fight in some battle or something?"

"She's an animal doctor, Ron." Hermione laughed as she shook her head, clearly looking at Ron. Emilia could easily see the connection between the two, as Hermione and Ron held hands, their fingers tightly entwined together. She sure was wrong about Charlie and Hermione when she first saw them together.

"Oh," Ron muttered. "Sorry."

Emilia remained silent, still shy around the large group. She hadn't wanted to face the Weasley family, but now she had been forced to do so. She was terrible in these kinds of situations.

"Well, it seems like that was pretty successful," Charlie finally spoke, taking the pressure off of Emilia. She was grateful. "Thank you. I appreciate the help."

"That was pretty fun," Ron admitted under the light of the street lamppost. "Too bad Harry's Firebolt was ruined again." Ron had a disgruntled look on his face, as seemed annoyed with the realization.

"I know," Harry, the wondrous boy, as Charlie explained to her, spoke. It was a normal man's voice. Emilia couldn't see how the world was saved from that kid. "I think I might just have to go with a regular broom from now on. I don't seem to have much luck with keeping Firebolt's in tact."

"That thing has a name?" Emilia suddenly found herself asking. She was not too impressed with the flying device that she had ridden on far too many times than she would have liked. It wasn't exactly comfortable… unless Charlie was there for support.

"Of course it has a name," Ron began to explain. "It's one of the best broomsticks around, though it is kind of getting old. It has unsurpassable balance, pinpoint precision, superbly smooth action…"

"Alright Ron," Hermione interrupted. "I don't think Emilia wants to listen to a Firebolt advertisement, but it's nice to know that you really can memorize things if you want to."

"Sorry," Ron responded. "I'm Ron, by the way." Ron finally introduced himself, staring at Emilia. "I'm Charlie's favourite brother."

"No, he's Charlie's youngest, immature brother," Hermione added, still holding onto Ron, keeping him close to her side. "We've already told her all about you."

"Oh," Ron said, disappointed. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"That was quite a save," Bill spoke quickly, as if he was relieved when Ron finally stopped talking. "You really saved that egg. I know all I was thinking about Summoning the egg, but I guess just using Muggle methods works quicker sometimes. I guess being a Muggle is good in some situations."

Emilia knew it was supposed to be a compliment, but somehow the way he said _Muggle_ made her feel minute and unimportant. "Thanks," Emilia finally found the words to say.

"Have you two been working together for long?" Bill then asked, prying further into Charlie's life. Emilia was not ready for that yet.

"I hate to interrupt this all-important-find-out-more-about-Charlie's-life conversation, but we really shouldn't just hang around here," Charlie said. It's late and I need to figure out what to do now. You guys can go home. I do appreciate the help, but this adventure is over. At least for now."

"Are you really going to stay here and watch after her?" Hermione asked, taking her hand out of Ron's grasp. She wasn't ready to leave yet.

"Yeah," Charlie answered. "I don't have much of an idea of what I'm going to do past that, but that's my plan so far."

"We can take turns watching after her," Ron suggested. "There are a lot of us. We can break up the work quite well."

"There is no _we_ in this," Charlie said, annoyed that getting his family involved wasn't as simple as he thought. Of course they wanted to keep helping. They were Weasleys. "I've already put you all in enough danger as it is. I'm sorry I got you involved. I really shouldn't have."

"Charlie!" Ron said a bit disgruntled by his attitude. "You have already gotten us all involved. You can't show us this brilliant dragon and then not let us see her anymore."

"You really need a job, don't you?" Charlie asked, a smirk appearing on his face, though not visible to Ron. "This life after the war thing isn't suiting you too well."

"Not true," Ron announced, his lips pouting as he said so.

"We really should get going," Harry then said, as if on a mission. "Your mum's probably worried, and we should just let Charlie take care of this. It's his job, and he doesn't need us crowding around him."

"I can stay with you for a bit, Charlie," Hermione spoke. "I'll help you get settled here and maybe wait until the baby's birth. I'd like to see that after everything I've done."

"Okay," Charlie agreed, willing to accept only her offer. Hermione had been a great help so far.

"Alright, well we should get going," Bill announced. "Thanks for including us in your plan, Charlie, it was nice to see you and have a little adventure. Now, don't stay out of contact too long."

"Of course," Charlie answered.

"Uhh…" Emilia interrupted, just before everyone left. "I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience, but I really need to get back to Charlie's place. I left Taffy there, and I'm assuming it's not a quick walk back to Newberry."

"Oh yeah," Bill said, remembering Charlie's friend. "I can take you back."

"Thanks," Emilia said. "I guess I'll see you later, Charlie. Bye, Hermione."

Charlie and Emilia locked eyes for a moment as Bill took a hold of Emilia, with the intent of Side-Apparition. Charlie and Emilia's feelings for one another had changed dramatically from their first encounter, though neither one of them seemed to realize it. And before they had time to delve deeper into those feelings, Bill and Emilia were back in Newberry.

Bill had Apparated them to near the forest, far enough away from any Muggle's prying eyes. Even though it was the middle of the night, Bill knew he couldn't take the risk of allowing a Muggle see them appear from nowhere.

It also meant that Emilia and Bill had more time to talk. That didn't settle well with Emilia, especially because she wasn't sure she liked Bill too much. He did not seem to think too much of Muggles, and it caused a bit of awkwardness for her. "How long have you known about magic for?" Bill soon asked Emilia, jumpstarting a quiet conversation in the darkness.

"Just a few of days," Emilia answered tensely, not giving away too many details.

Bill expected her to say more, but when she didn't he continued with his questions. He could see some type of attraction between his brother and the Muggle veterinarian and he was curious to find out more about her. Charlie was a good man and Bill only wanted the best for his closest brother. He wanted Charlie to find someone as special as Fleur was to him, but he was worried that Charlie would not find love. He often secluded himself from women.

"I bet it was quite a shock for you," Bill went on to say.

"Yeah," Emilia briefly answered, a bit unsure of what to say. She hated being in that position. She was not good at letting people get to know her, and even though she knew nothing could happen between her and Charlie, she wanted to make a good impression with his family. Several seconds later, she added on, "I didn't believe him at first. Hermione went on to explain a bit, but I still didn't believe them. But then Charlie talked about Fred and George, and the war. I knew he couldn't be making it up."

Just as Emilia felt the words slip through her mouth, she wanted to take them back. Why would she mention Fred when she knew that even Charlie grew tearful at the mention of his name? She briefly caught a look of sadness on Bill's face, but she decided to continue talking. She tried to distract him. "It's such a neat world that Charlie's shown me. I wish I could be a part of it."

"But aren't you already?" Bill asked as they approached the path to the shack.

"Well, Charlie and Hermione have shown me a bit about magic, but I don't expect to see them again. I s'pose Charlie'll be busy watching after the dragon for awhile."

"I don't think he'll leave your life all too quickly," Bill interjected. "I see the way he looks at you, all giddy and somewhat nervous when you're around. I don't see him all too often, but I don't think I've ever seen him look at another girl that way before. He might not be able to read his feelings yet, but I can see how he feels about you."

Emilia blushed, embarrassed. Bill seemed to be opening up to her a lot, and she wasn't quite sure what to say.

"I'm probably making this an uncomfortable walk for you, so I'll try to pry away from my brother's life for a moment," Bill said, as they approached the door to the shack. "_Alohomora_," Bill said, aiming his wand to the door of the shack that Emilia told him was Charlie's.

The two walked through the small doorway, Emilia realizing more just how useful magic could be. It was such a minute thing to Bill to use that spell, but Emilia found it to be incredible.

As they entered, a medium sized yellow dog approached, wagging her tail with such power that Bill had to take a step back. Emilia noticed Bill's hesitancy towards Taffy, and that somehow made her feel more composed. Wizards still had downfalls.

"Erm... sorry, large dogs creep me out sometimes," Bill revealed shyly, still leaning towards the closed door, away from Taffy. Taffy tried to approach, but Emilia held onto her bright pink collar, so that she would not scare Bill. "Goblins are fine, dogs aren't. Been thinking about getting a Crup lately though. See if we're ready to take care of the kid and all."

"Taffy's not going to hurt you," Emilia reassured him, ignoring the comment about the kid. She didn't know him well enough to ask him more. "She's friendly. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Well, I'd rather not take any chances, as foolish as that sounds."

"Okay," Emilia said. At least Charlie was a bit more open to Taffy than Bill was. "Well, thanks for taking me here," Emilia soon said, wondering what Bill was waiting for, especially when he was afraid of Taffy. "I just need to grab Taffy's leash, and then I'll be heading back to my place. You don't have to stick around."

"S'okay," Bill offered. "I can walk you back to your place. I'm not letting any girl of Charlie's run around in the dark by herself."

Emilia was speechless for a moment as she heard the words, _girl of Charlie_. What did Bill mean by that? Why was he being so forward with her? Did he really think that Charlie liked her? Eventually, Emilia said, "thanks."

Taffy finally settled down, and Emilia let go of her collar. The leash was in the closet, so Emilia called Taffy over to her as she searched for the leash. Taffy was still interested in the red-headed stranger, but she listened as Emilia called her away from the man.

"I'll tell you what," Bill shouted to Emilia as Emilia grabbed the blue nylon leash off of the inside of the closet door handle. "My brother might not keep you connected to the magic world, but I'd love to. How'd you like to have dinner over at my place one night?"

Emilia grew a bit worried, afraid of Bill's intentions. She couldn't figure out where that question had come from and she wondered if he possibly liked her. Was he asking her on a date?

"How do you like roast beef?" Bill asked, while Emilia slowly walked over to Bill with Taffy attached to the leash. She was a bit afraid of him, keeping a bit of a distance, but she was appreciative to be with Taffy.

"Uh… it's fine," Emilia answered in a mumble. She didn't know what else to say, and she was not sure if she wanted to approach him any closer. Why hadn't she asked Hermione to take her back? Why did she leave with a complete stranger, who was trying to hit on her? Emilia figured that Charlie spoke so well of his family that she wanted to trust them all. But how could she trust a man who suspected that his brother liked her, yet went after her himself?

"Good," Bill enthusiastically said. "My wife makes a nice roast beef, and I'd love to have you over sometime. Maybe you can help me get over my fear of dogs."

Emilia's heart stopped racing. The sweat on her palms began to subside and she calmed down. She was terrible at reading people, especially men. What was she thinking anyways? Bill didn't like her. Bill was just being nice. "I'd like that," Emilia finally answered. She then walked closer to the door and Bill and said, "we can get going now."

Bill immediately turned to the door and slowly opened it. "After you," he said kindly as soon as it was opened completely. Emilia walked outside with an exuberant Taffy prancing along her side.

Bill came out of the shack soon after, shutting the door quietly and joining Emilia, as she waited for him. But as he caught up to her, he noticed that she seemed to be frozen in place. Her eyes were focused on a particular point up ahead. Bill traced the outline of her gaze slowly, and he soon noticed a blond woman who locked her eyes with Emilia.

"Emilia?" the woman asked, confused by Emilia's presence.

Emilia's gaze soon wore off as she searched through her mind for something reasonable to say. She just didn't know how to react. How was she supposed to explain what she was doing there?

"I thought you were just going home to sleep," Talia said, not sure of what to think. She couldn't understand why Emilia was in front of the address that Charlie had given her?

"I… well." Emilia couldn't find the words to explain herself. She briefly took a glance down at Taffy, thinking that she could find the answer in her dog. Eventually, she did. "Charlie called me a little while ago. He wanted to see Taffy."

"He wanted to see Taffy?" Talia didn't buy and it Emilia knew it. "Why did he want to see Taffy?"

Bill realized the growing tension between the two, and he tried to follow the conversation so that he could help, but he wasn't exactly sure what was going on. His eyes lingered from one girl to the other, and he watched as they continued to argue.

"I told you he was the one who saved Taffy that one day." Emilia tried to think of something reasonable. She wasn't too good at thinking on her feet. "And he and Taffy kind of bonded that day. He just asked me if he could play with her for a little while."

"At two in the morning?" Talia asked, her tone starting to grow cold and angry. "Why would he want to play with her at two in the morning?"

Emilia had not realized it was that late. And then she wondered what Talia was doing, ready to knock on Charlie's door at two in the morning. However, instead of divulging into Talia's life, she tried to defend herself. "We just got to talking," Emilia answered. "And the time kind of passed by. I didn't even realize it was two already."

"And who is that?" Talia continued to fume as she pointed towards Bill.

"I'm Charlie's brother," Bill answered, finally speaking up. "I was walking Emilia home."

"Bollocks!" Talia shouted, finally completely consumed by anger. She had not bought the story at all. She suspected the worst and Emilia didn't know what to do about it. "You know I like him. You know that I was going to ask him out and you didn't say anything. I thought you were my best mate. I thought that you cared about my feelings. You lied to me. I was worried about you all this time. I thought work had just taken its weight upon you, but all this time you and Charlie have been messing around. Why couldn't you've told me? I would've been happy for you if I knew the truth."

Emilia tensed up, afraid of the words that had come from Talia's fury-filled frown. She didn't have much of an excuse, not one that she could tell her friend. Charlie didn't want anyone else to know about magic. Emilia didn't think it would be such a difficult thing to do to hide it from Talia, but it was much harder than she expected. So much could be cleared up by the announcement of the magic world, but she couldn't say anything. Emilia had understood Charlie's dilemma when she accepted the truth of magic, but she couldn't understand it completely until that second. It pained her to not be able to say anything. "Talia..." Emilia had trouble finding just a word to say to her. "It's not what you think."

"Then what is it?" Talia said in contempt. "Why would you try to hide it from me, your best mate, probably your only one?" Talia took a brief pause, thinking of what else to say. "No, don't try to explain it to me, Dr. Reynolds. This friendship is over." Talia turned to leave, as Emilia tried to prevent the tears from pouring down her face. And as Talia backed away, Emilia could smell the alcohol on her breath. At least Talia wasn't in her right mind.

But Emilia couldn't help but to think that Talia's words were what she really thought of her. She felt like she was back in school, still going through her awkward teenage years, when she couldn't quite accept that she was never going to be the most popular one, surrounded by millions of friends. As Talia walked away, she realized that Talia was right. Talia was her best and only real friend, at least in Newberry. And that hurt.

When Talia finally was gone, Emilia couldn't hold back the tears any longer. They flooded her face, streaming down in long waves past her cheeks and onto her chin. It took her several moments to realize that Bill was still there and when she did, she slowly dropped Taffy's leash and brought both of her hands up to cover her face. She did not want to show weakness in front of him… or anyone for that matter. She tried to cover it up.

But as the tears continued to flow, without any sign of stopping, she felt a presence come upon her. Bill's right hand touched her shoulder and she was comforted with that. Without questioning her, Bill took her into his arms, where she was able to cry. She leaned her head against his chest, realizing that he wasn't some stalker. He was Charlie's brother and she felt comfort resting upon him, knowing that he was also a Weasley. A part of him was just like Charlie.


	17. Chapter 17

A five year old child ran along a battered brick pathway, trying to keep up with his older brother

A five year old child ran along a battered brick pathway, trying to keep up with his older brother. He was panting heavily, but he didn't even take notice. He was filled with excitement, trying to urge himself forward, as fast as his adolescent legs would take him.

His brother looked back at him, grinning because of the excitement apparent on his brother's face. His chubby cheeks were raised up high and his eyes showed that he was thrilled to be walking along that path. "Dragons are scary, you know, Charlie," Bill told his younger brother. "And you might be too young to see them. Sometimes they don't let little kids in."

Charlie grew worried as he skipped along the path to the dragon reserve. His parents had promised him that he would be able to see a real live dragon, and he was not going to be amused if he was turned away.

"Kids, wait up!" the voice of Arthur Weasley rang through the boys' ears. Charlie did not want to slow down. He just wanted to see the dragon.

Bill stopped running, and as much as Charlie wanted to continue on, he followed his brother's example. Bill had seen the dragons before, and he knew were he was running towards. Charlie had never seen them, and he did not know where to go.

"You have to wait for me anyways," Arthur said as he caught up to his sons. "They're not going to let you two in by yourselves."

The three continued to walk along the pathway, though much slower this time, Charlie with impatient manners. "Come on dad. Hurry up," Charlie demanded.

"Charlie, the dragons aren't going anywhere," Arthur said, amused but a bit annoyed by his son's impatience. "We're not going to miss them no matter how slow we walk."

"But I want to see them now!" Charlie shouted, his body bouncing up and down with anticipation.

"Alright, alright," Arthur said. "We're almost there."

The three continued to walk for several more minutes until they finally reached the reserve, located in the higher peaks of the town's mountains. The three were visitors and therefore they could only observe from the safest building along the reserve's edge. The building had heavy security against dragon magic and dragons tended not to go near it because of that. However, with the use of Omnioculars, visitors could observe the dragons in relatively good detail.

Arthur entered the building first, knowing that there would be security points. He had a connection so that he could bring his curious sons; a co-worker's son worked at the reserve. Usually outsiders were not allowed to visit since it could be a dangerous place.

"Name?" a voice coming from a machine caused Arthur to pay attention to it.

"Arthur, Bill, and Charlie Weasley," Arthur answered. Charlie stood up tall as he could, afraid that the machine was going to discriminate against him. Was Bill really serious about young kids not being allowed in?

Of course, Bill was only teasing his younger brother. Out came three visitor's passes, one with each of their names on it on the top line, and _Acquaintance of Martin Stein_ written underneath. Arthur handed the name tags to each of his sons and put his on his robes. Charlie did so as well, afterwards skipping along past the entrance, following his father into the main section of the building.

Charlie was expecting something magical when he made it to that section. He was expecting hundreds of people gathered around in a gigantic hall, observing the many dragons flying around right outside of the building. He expected great halls where people studied the magnificent creatures, but that's not what he saw. Instead, the visitor's building was relatively small and there were only two other people there. He decided experience would be even better because of that. It was more intimate. He was only one of few people that would be getting to see the dragons.

But then his eyes gazed outside the window, and he didn't see anything. The mountains were huge and victoriously tall, with large fields of grass and sunny cloudless skies, but there were not dragons… at least none that he saw. He was severely disappointed.

"I don't see anything, dad," Charlie said, lugubrious and upset. "I thought we'd be able to see dragons."

"And we are," Arthur answered. He took a pair of Omnioculars from his briefcase and he handed them to Charlie. "Just look out of these."

Charlie took the Omnioculars and pointed them in the direction of the clear, glass viewing center. He stared through them and shouted, "I still don't see anything!" He was impatient and he was annoyed. This was not what he expected from this outing.

Arthur took the Omnioculars from his son's hands and stared until he saw a small dot in the background. He positioned the Omnioculars on that small dot, and he stared through them, finally finding a dragon. He kept them pointed at the dragon and told Charlie to stare from that view.

Charlie stood on his tippy-toes in order to reach the position that his father was holding the Omnioculars at. He was not expecting to see anything because he had already been disappointed, but when he looked through he saw a large black dragon walking along the ground.

Charlie saw the magnificence of the creature right away. He had midnight black scales, and beautiful bronze horns, with matching black ridges along his back. His wings were the black of his body, and they looked like the wings of a bat, yet larger. And as Charlie continued to stare, he finally noticed the big brown eyes of the dragon, scrounging around for a meal.

"I wanna see!" Bill yelled while Charlie was captivated by just the one dragon.

"Charlie, it's Bill's turn," Arthur said, trying to break Charlie free of the Omnioculars.

"One more minute," Charlie answered. "I just want to see him fly. He's going to fly."

And sure enough, within seconds, the great horned creature took off into the air. Charlie pressed his hands against the Omnioculars so that he could follow the path.

The dragon flew slowly and swiftly through the air. He did not even seem to be making much effort to fly. He did not fly up too high and Charlie noted that particular behavior, wondering why he wouldn't want to fly up into the clouds. And as the dragon continued to fly, he eventually flew behind the mountain, so that he was hidden. Charlie could observe no more.

As soon as the dragon disappeared, Charlie took a hold of the Omnioculars again, trying to find another dragon. He spent several more hours, tracking down the dragons, observing their motions, while his brother tried to take a hold of the Omnioculars. But Charlie would not let go. After seeing his first dragon, he just wanted to see more.

--

"Charlie! Charlie!" Hermione shouted, causing Charlie to open up his eyes slowly. When he did, he needed to take a second to remember where he was.

He found himself on top of his broomstick, with Hermione only several feet away from him. She was holding a pair of Omnioculars and she seemed to be intrigued by what she saw.

The two were high up in the air, so that the dragon wouldn't spot them. Charlie was hidden by the Invisibility Cloak incase, but the dragon most likely wouldn't have seen him anyways. And they were not high enough for any of those Muggle planes to catch a glimpse of Hermione.

"Where are you, Charlie?" Hermione spoke, as she continued to hold the Omnioculars steadily in her two hands.

"Just to your right," Charlie answered in a yawn. He was embarrassed to have fallen asleep, but at least Hermione hadn't seen him asleep. The Invisibility Cloak was a good protection against that. "What do you see?"

"The egg's moving," Hermione said. "I think it's ready to hatch."

Charlie ripped off the Invisibility Cloak and dived in closer to Hermione. "Let me see those," he said, wanting the Omnioculars. Excitement began to crawl over his body.

Charlie took a hold of them and immediately found the position of Linnie and her egg. As Hermione had announced, its hard cement shell was starting to move and now it was even beginning to crack. Charlie had seen many births before, and he knew what was about to happen.

Charlie noticed that Linnie was completely focused on her egg. Her milkily pink eyes stared with great excitement at the hatching egg.

Charlie started to creep closer to her, urging Hermione to do the same. He knew with the baby's birth she would become more protective, but during the actually hatching she was not going to be paying attention to her surroundings.

The actually hatching process did not take too long. It never did… not in Charlie's experience. But it was an amazing experience. Charlie always tried to make it to see the birth of new dragons. The feeling that something new was coming into the world was magnificent, especially when it was a dragon. It would be one more baby that Charlie could watch grow up and adjust to the world. It was a new life that Charlie could witness, learning how to survive.

Hermione seemed to be just in awe as Charlie was, her eyes completely concentrated on the small black dragon baby. Horntails were especially cute when they were first born, their bronze horns tiny speckles on their delicate heads. The spikes on their tails were not fully formed yet either, so they did not even look that vicious. But next to their mothers, they were protected.

"Let's get going," Charlie warned Hermione as the baby adjusted its eyes to the brand new world. Their observation time was over. The dragon baby may have looked innocent and harmless, but he was not. And he was especially not with his mother near by.

Charlie started to pull upwards, hoping that Hermione would follow. She, however, did not take heed to his warning. She was too amused by the birth of the new dragon.

Charlie wanted to shout to get her attention, but shouting would also get the baby and the mother's attention. He was not sure what to do until the baby allowed the message to ring out by his own account.

He took two gentle steps to the right, more towards where Hermione was. He then took a glance up at her, as he raised his mouth and opened it, firing a tiny jet of fire for the first time in his short life.

The flame did not go very far and Hermione was not close enough to get a full blast of the fire, but it was enough to warn her to stay away, especially because Linnie was so close by, prepared to search out for any predictors, coming to harm her baby. She did not even care what they would be, her thoughts being, "Attack first, think later."

So Hermione sped up on her least favorite traveling device, heading towards Charlie. When she grew nearer, she noticed that Charlie had a smirk on his face. "You liked that, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hermione answered reflectively. "Yeah, I did. Now what are we going to do next?"

"I'm not sure," Charlie answered calmly. "I guess we need to just keep watching her to make sure she's not doing any harm."

"But how're we going to keep hiding her, Charlie?" Hermione suddenly realized that Charlie's plan wasn't all too thought out. "The Ministry's going to figure it out soon enough and people will be searching for her. They're going to eventually find her."

"I don't know," Charlie was not prepared to give an in depth explanation. Hermione was right; he didn't really know what he could do. Moving her again was not going to be easy and surely someone would find out if they stayed in the new town for long enough. He would just have to try to stop anyone from finding out.

"Hey, I've got an idea," a strange voice announced and crept closer to the pair. Hermione noticed his curly dark hair, but she couldn't see too much more of his appearance under the darkened sky. He was riding along a broomstick as well, the model, unknown to Hermione, though Ron probably would've known. "You're going to come with me."

"And who would you be?" Hermione asked, already angered by this stranger. She turned to Charlie and saw that he was motionless as the man spoke to the pair. His eyes were tuned to the man, and he stared without even a blink for several seconds.

"I would be Dragos Vasile," the man answered. "And that is my dragon."


	18. Chapter 18

"Your dragon

"Your dragon?" Charlie laughed, with feeling finally returning to him after the shock of encountering his boss just hours after he had moved Linnie out of Newberry. "She's not yours."

"She may as well be," Dragos mumbled, upset by Weasley's lack of respect.

Charlie waited for an explanation, but as always his boss didn't give one. Short and simple terms… always. It annoyed Charlie fervently, but now that he had already done something unlawful, he figured that Dragos wasn't really a boss to him anymore. He could disobey him if he wanted.

"How'd you find us?" Charlie asked, irritated that Vasile was able to spot him.

"Tracker," Vasile answered. "We put it in years ago. Sirens go off when she moves a certain amount of kilometers at a time. That's why we knew she was broken out of the bank in the first place."

Charlie shivered worriedly. Something wasn't right about Vasile's relationship with Linnie. He seemed to know a lot about her, but he didn't give away too many details. But then again, that was the typical Vasile.

"But this isn't a good time talk about those details," Vasile said. "You two are in a lot of trouble. You're coming with me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Charlie protested. He wasn't going to give into his boss. Not this time. "She just had a baby and she needs to be watched. I'm not leaving her alone."

"Your friend can watch over her," Vasile said. "Look, it's between that or reporting you and your family to the Ministry."

"You know about my family?" Charlie's heart started to rush. He put not only their lives at risk, but their careers and their future. He was willing to risk that for himself, but not for his family as well. Why had he gotten them into this in the first place? He should've just done it himself.

"I know about a lot of things," Vasile said, "Which is why we need to talk."

"I still don't feel comfortable leaving just Hermione with the baby."

"She'll be fine, Weasley. Dragons have been having babies without human aid for centuries. She can be left alone for a minute."

"But…"

"We'll be fine, Charlie," Hermione urged. "I'm a pretty capable witch in case anything happens, and if it does, I'll just send along a Patronus."

"Fine," Charlie muttered, upset that Hermione didn't help at all.

--

Emilia entered her home after a quick walk from Charlie's shack. Bill said goodbye to her, feeding her words of comfort on the way over.

Emilia wasn't sure what to do about her situation. Talia was her best friend and the one who helped her cope to the lifestyle she was used to. She couldn't lose her over some boy. She didn't even have a relationship with Charlie.

Or did she?

There was that one kiss. She tried to make nothing of it, and he seemed embarrassed as well, but what did that mean? Bill even admitted there was something going on between the two of them, and he had seen them together for less than an hour.

But nothing could happen between the two of them. Not if it hurt Talia. Emilia would just have to stop seeing Charlie. She'd have to stop before it progressed any further. She wouldn't do that to her best friend. Not for any guy. Not even for Charlie Weasley, the one boy she learned to love.

Emilia lay face down on top of her soft, blue comforter. Her face turned into the pillows at the top of her bed, and she fought for several minutes before the tears streamed down her round face. She continued to cry, dazed and in pain, while her pager buzzed on her desk, her emotions too disoriented for her to notice.

Minutes later, the phone rang, but Emilia didn't care. She could not move from the bed that had finally sprung her emotions out. If it was important, they'd leave a message. If not, calling at 4 in the morning didn't warrant an answer.

"Emilia!" a screechy voice rang through Emilia's head, causing her to realize the headache that was throbbing through her in that painful hour.

A broad shouldered woman with butt length black hair and a groggy expression walked into Emilia's room without a knock. "Tell your boss not to call in the middle of the night."

Emilia jumped up from her bed, wiping away the tears, as she did so. She stared at Jessamine, as she handed her the phone.

"Hello," Emilia said with little emotion.

"Reynolds, we have a situation. We need you here immediately."

--

Charlie walked along the pathway outside the forest of yet another Muggle town. He waited for his boss to begin talking. He had to have something useful to say if it prevented him from not being sent to Azkaban already.

"I know you don't like me very much." Dragos finally started to speak. "I'm not a fan of myself much either these days."

Charlie kicked a stone as they walked through a neighborhood of Muggles. Charlie hoped that no one would chose to look outside their windows at any point. He was sure it was unusual for people to see two strange men walking through the neighborhood at that time of night.

"The truth is that I used to be more like you. I used to come in to work every morning thrilled about the possibilities the day had to offer. I used to be thrilled about new projects, and I'd try my best to make it to the top so that I could lead something.

"One day that actually happened. There was a new project that opened up, and I jumped at the opportunity to become involved. I was young and naïve then and I didn't know exactly what that would entail."

Charlie and Dragos began to walk out of the neighborhood and into town. Even though it was late at night, Charlie noticed it was not too lively. There was a run down bar and a couple of ugly looking stores. Charlie didn't think he'd ever admit it, but he missed Newberry.

"It turned into a project that I wish I would have never contributed to. Sure, it gave me the position I have today, but I would take that all back in a second. Why don't we sit down?" Dragos pointed to a bench on the side of the street. Charlie followed his fingers, eventually sitting down beside him.

"Weasley, what I'm about to tell you is probably going to make you mad. It's the truth, and it's what I've been protecting you and everyone else from for a long while. I'm only telling you this because there's no way out now, and I don't want you to go to Azkaban."

"Well, why don't you just forget about this then? Can't you act like you don't know what's going on?"

"Weasley, if I ignore this, someone else is going to figure it out. I promise you, this is the only way."

"Fine," Charlie said. He did want to know what his boss had to say. It seemed to be something that affected his life tremendously.

"There's a classified group of dragon keepers in Romania," Dragos started to explain. "They work in a research lab situated inside a wizard-made building in the Tatich cave. They have skills in healing, as well as dragon keeping.

"I was told to go in that cave one day. I wasn't told much, other than to hide in a Dragon Free Zone, and wait for a dragon of my choice to approach. I was given a sedative that was apparently strong enough to knock out the dragon. Once the dragon was asleep, I was to alert my boss and he would alert the researchers in that cave. I was to assist the researchers in doing what they needed at that point.

"I set out that day to do the task. I wasn't exactly sure what they meant by a dragon of my choice, but I always liked this one Hungarian Horntail. She wasn't exactly the prettiest of all the dragons and she was typically a bit of an outsider. There was really nothing special about her at all, and when I was her inside the cave, I decided to choose her. Whatever was going on with her was going to be something special. I wanted her to be special.

"So I did what I was told, and I gave her the shot. The researchers then came, and I helped them bring her into their research lab.

"A whole new world was opened up to me at that point. I'll spare you from the most terrible of details, but it was like a factory of dragon experimentation. There were tables and tables for experiments, though luckily not too many dragons. They only hold three at a time.

"They brought the Hungarian Horntail onto one operating table. I was still there to assist. I wasn't sure what they were doing, but I knew I didn't like it. They started poking and prodding, and I had to assist. It was in my contract and I couldn't do anything about it.

"I asked them what they were doing and they finally answered. They were injecting her with things that would give her extra strength. They had just sent a dragon to Gringotts and they were making sure the next one would be ready.

"Linnie," Charlie said just lower than a whisper.

"They had to make sure she was strong enough."

"All dragons would be strong enough," Charlie said bitterly. "You don't need to add extra strength for that."

"I know," Dragos said. "Exactly my thoughts, but they wanted to be sure. They wanted to use only the strongest, so they learned to make a strength serum. They've developed a bunch of different things they can do to them."

"My god." Charlie didn't like the cruelty of the truth.

"I've tried my best to protect all of you. I didn't want you to know."

"Was that green stuff the strengthening thing?" Charlie remembered that Hermione couldn't figure out what the green stuff was. It must have been.

"Yeah, Chimaera blood. Pretty awful stuff. One touch and it'll make you go crazy, unless you're the size of a dragon. I was told not to go near it."

"So if a dog or some small animal touched it, what would happen?"

"Go crazy," Dragos simply said. "Probably start attacking his owner and what not. Not a situation I'd like to be in."

"How long does it take to take affect?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think it's immediate though."

"Shite."

--

A large white Canadian Eskimo dog sat down in the corner of a patient room, his hackles standing strictly up on his long, puffed back, and his teeth exposed. A small gurgle was emitted from his direction, eventually working its way up to a full growl.

Dr. Reynolds walked into the room with confidence, knowing that confidence was the only thing that would allow her to win in that situation. If she showed any doubt, she would not make it through the moment.

She moved in closer, while closing the door behind her. There was still a small window so her boss could look in on her, but she wanted the door to be kept shut in case anything was to happen. She didn't want to put anyone else in danger.

The Eskimo dog opened his mouth even further and as Dr. Reynolds was closer, she noticed his white teeth were etched with blood. That caused her heart to beat just a bit faster. It made the situation much more real.

Reynolds walked closer still, as the dog did his best trying to intimidate her. She was careful not to give in because she knew she had a secret weapon in her hand… she was prepared to sedate the uncontrollable dog.

But staring into his angry-filled eyes, what did she know? This dog had already done some harm. He bit the night attendant, and the night attendant was on her way to the hospital in critical condition. Would Yuri, the usual sweet babe, harm her too?

Emilia walked in closer, suddenly attuning herself to the desperation her boss held when telling her of the situation. She rushed into work as soon as she heard, but why did she volunteer to sedate the volatile dog? She was just a veterinarian, not animal control. She only had experience of keeping dogs under control that were harmed. Yuri had been harmed, by none other than her dragon nemesis, but he didn't show any signs of being harmed now.

But that was right. There were some unnatural forces in the world. If she got hurt, couldn't she just be magically healed? Magic could fix dogs. Magic would fix this.

But not if the dog killed her.

Was he really that fierce?

Dr. Reynolds and Yuri continued to stare at one another, both plastered only several meters from one another. They both contemplated their attack methods.

As Emilia extended her right hand in front of her body, she began to wonder why all of the attack victims had suddenly become vicious, all at one time. Maybe it was the full moon?

The syringe hit Yuri's neck quickly, but not quick enough. The second her hand went near him, he grabbed a hold of it.

Her body filled with pain as sharp teeth broke into the skin of her right hand – her surgical hand. The teeth continued to jar into her bone, but within seconds the grip loosened. Emilia barreled onto the ground in pain, as Yuri fell into a listless sleep.

Emilia could not find the strength to free herself from the dog's teeth. The grip was no longer as strong, but moving her hand in any way caused her the most extraordinary pain she had ever experienced.

Dr. Baker came running into the room at that moment. "Reynolds!" Baker shouted. "Are you okay?"

Emilia could not find the words to answer. Instead, she tightened her body and kept as still as she could, so the pain was as minimal as possible.

Baker took a syringe and jabbed it into Emilia's right hand as soon as Emilia looked away. Seconds later, the pain started to numb itself in Emilia's hand and with Baker's help she was able to break free of Yuri.

Baker then helped Emilia stand to her feet. As she did, she felt dizzy and nauseous and all she wanted was to sit back down.

Eventually she did so, pouring to her feet. "Alright," Baker said. "I'm going to put Yuri into a crate and then I'll call an ambulance. Just keep your arm wrapped and I'll be back soon."

Emilia listened, eventually sliding towards the ground again, as Baker took a told of Yuri and disappeared. Emilia stayed on the floor of the room, starting to rock back and forth. Tears started to pour down her face for a second time that night, as she craved no one else's company other than Charlie.

And within seconds, like some kind of miracle, he was there. He grabbed a hold of her aching body, holding her tightly and whispered to her, "It'll be okay. I've got you now."


	19. Chapter 19

The pain was so real, so terrifying

The pain was so real, so terrifying. It jabbed into the lower right portion of her stomach, sending messages of hurt and despair. She kept her eyes sealed shut as she was lifted onto the ambulance, alone and afraid. She tried to reach out for a comforting hand, but it wasn't there. She was alone and she was terrified. Where had he gone?

The paramedic slammed the door shut as she frantically shouted for someone to come help her. Somehow, she had been tricked onto the ambulance, and she didn't like it.

She suddenly opened her eyes, staring at a man of a burly build. He had a round face, a brown head of hair, and a tightly trimmed brown moustache and beard to match. His eyes were bright blue and staring into her own blue eyes at the moment.

She thought his face was particularly worried. It was that same face that her father revealed when he told her that her mother died. It reminded her so much of that tragic day and she didn't like it. It wasn't before long when the tears started to form once again. And not long after that, they came pouring down her bony cheeks.

"Shh… sweetie." The stranger tried to comfort her.

She did not want to listen. She had no reason to listen and she continued to cry. She didn't trust the man.

"What's your name, child?"

She was nervous about speaking. She was told not to trust strangers and he was a stranger. He was unknown and neither her father nor her brother were there to tell her it was okay. Where had they gone?

"Is your name Emilia?" the man asked, as she felt the ambulance start to move forward.

How did he know that? Her heart pounded even more quickly as the stranger knew details that she never revealed. She had to somehow get away from him, but there was nowhere to go. And the pain that radiated in her abdomen continued to worsen.

"It's okay," the man said, as she continued to cry. "The person who called for the ambulance said your name is Emilia. Is that correct?"

She felt a little safer. There was a reason for him to know her name. She nodded her head.

"Good, good," he sighed, delighted that she finally answered. "Now what hurts, Emilia?"

"My stomach," she whispered.

"Can you point to where it hurts?" he asked her. His voice was starting to comfort her, and he was gaining her trust. She felt a bit more comfortable in his presence, as she pointed to the spot on the lower right portion of her stomach.

He lifted up her shirt to examine the area. He pressed his cold fingers onto the spot and she jumped up slightly. The touch hurt.

"It's okay," he said. "I won't touch it again." He then turned out of her view and said to the driver, "Looks like she's got appendicitis, Louie."

"It hurts," Emilia cried out, trying to get the man to focus back on her. His attention seemed to help her.

"I know," he said, turning back towards her. "We'll be at the hospital soon."

"What's an apencitis?" Emilia asked, worried.

"The doctors will explain that," the man answered sharply. He did not want to have to explain it all to a young child.

"Where's my dad and my brother?" Emilia continued with the questions. It took so long for the doctor to get her to speak in the first place, but now that she did, she wouldn't stop talking.

"I don't know," the paramedic said. "I didn't see them when we picked you up."

Emilia and the man continued to talk for the rest of the ambulance ride, the paramedic helping to relax Emilia.

When they arrived at the hospital, Emilia was taken to the emergency room right away. They were worried about a rupture, so they decided to take her to surgery, right after questioning her about her family. And she could remember little about the surgery, succumbing to sleep right away in the surgical room.

Soon after the surgery was complete Emilia woke up in a room with bright white walls. There was another bed to the left of the one she was in, and she saw a nine year old boy with excited blue eyes gazing over her own eyes.

"Waylon?" Emilia questioned, peeking at her brother.

"Em!" Waylon announced, excitedly. "You're finally up!"

"What happened?" Emilia asked, a frown below her tired eyes.

"You happened," a despicable voice said. Emilia soon saw the ragged expression of her father, as he pushed Waylon aside to approach her closer. "You and your stupid medical needs. I have work today you know."

"I'm sorry," Emilia said, afraid of her father's wrath.

"And you just give away all of your information when you entered the hospital. Didn't I ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

"Yes sir," Emilia straightened up her expression, answering her father. "I didn't mean to, but it hurt."

"Well just suck it in," he grumbled. "And don't be such a nuisance. Your brother would never do anything like that. Your brother's a strong man. You're just a weak sissy."

Emilia didn't know what to say. She didn't like confrontations with her father. Most of the time he was away or focused on her perfect brother's accomplishments, but when the focus shifted to her, it was difficult. She should have been able to compete with the pain. She should have been a more perfect child like her brother was. She was the misfit of the family and at that moment, she felt very small.

--

Her eyes closed tightly as she leaned her head into his sturdy body. His heart pounded quickly as she took note of every beat. It made her feel safer to hear that rhythmic pattern of life. It made her conscious and aware that she was still alive. It made her settle down as she realized that Charlie was there to save her once again.

"We need to get going," he whispered into her small ears.

"Baker's calling an ambulance," Emilia whispered in response. "She's taking care of it."

"You can't go to a regular hospital," Charlie assured her. "We need to go to St. Mungos."

Emilia wanted to question more, but the pain in her hand started to increase in intensity, throbbing and pounding away. It felt like a stabbing of constant pain. It was more painful than anything else she had experience and without a doubt she knew that Charlie was right. This was something that a regular hospital couldn't take care of. St. Mungos, which was hopefully a wizard place, had to help her. But did they take people who weren't witches?

The burning continued to radiate itself throughout Emilia's hand, eventually guiding its way throughout her body. She had Charlie there and she shouldn't have to cry anymore, but she couldn't help herself. She had never been that strong woman that her father pushed her to be. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stay strong, at least with her emotions. She was weak. And Charlie was going to see that now, but she didn't care. She couldn't fight off the pain.

"Let's go," Charlie said. "I'm going to lift you up real slowly and we're going to get out of there. Is that okay?"

"Mmm…hmm," Emilia mumbled, fighting to find a voice to speak. She took in all the comfort that Charlie gave her, and she fought to be as strong as she could.

Charlie lifted her up, careful not to move her too quickly. He knew that her arm was badly hurt and he wanted to minimize as much of the pain as possible. But he also wanted to get her off to St. Mungos as soon as possible, especially before Dr. Baker came back or the ambulance came. It was better for them to not know where she was than for them to see him running off with her. They wouldn't be able to place the blame on him if Baker never saw him.

Charlie finally was able to position her in as comfortable a position as possible in his arms. Her body was parallel with the ground and he put one hand under her back and one hand under her butt for support. He held her close to his body, trying to protect her from any obstacle in his way.

He walked out of the animal hospital in a brisk pace, though not running, careful not to harm her. He made it outside, searching for a dark corner, where he could disappear from Newberry and reappear back in London, in the abandoned department store that was much more than a department store to wizards and witches.

He found such a place nearby the hospital, only a small journey away. It was behind the hospital, where a lining of trees began. Charlie realized that the trees must have been planted for privacy, but in his case it helped him to hide from others.

Within moments, Charlie Apparated to the London department store. He landed right in front of the store, much better adjusted to the fast type of travel than he used to be. Back in his youth, he failed his first Apparition test, but by now he was completely proficient in the style of travel. He used it so much in his work that he had to be.

Charlie approached a dummy sitting in the front window of the store. "I need some help," he said. The dummy nodded and Charlie walked right through the window, granted permission by the badly dressed dummy. He walked straight to the reception area, searching for the Welcome Witch.

Charlie noted that it was particularly quiet at that time. There were no other strange people being carried into the hospital. Emilia was the only one there, yet the Welcome Witch still gave a nasty greeting.

"No Muggles allowed," she said, rolling her eyes at Charlie and Emilia.

"She's okay," Charlie fought. He wasn't going to leave without Emilia being cared for. "She already knows about magic and she was bitten by a dog infected with Chimaera blood. She's going to need wizarding help."

"No Muggles allowed," she repeated in a raspy voice and an uninterested tone.

"You can make an exception!" Charlie yelled. "She's hurt and she needs our help. This is a wizarding issue."

This time instead of talking, the old woman pointed to a sign at the main desk that read 'No Muggles Allowed.'

Charlie stared at the sign and continued to look until he found the fine printed underneath the main message. "Some exceptions apply," he read to her. "This is an exception. Contact with Chimaera blood can make a person go crazy. What will people think of her at a regular hospital? She'd be crazy and they wouldn't know how to heal her. She might even say something about our world. Do you want that to happen? Do you want to get fired over something like that?"

"First floor," the Welcome Witch simply said. "Dai Llewellyn Ward."

"Thank you," Charlie mumbled as he ran past her to find that ward. "Not," he added quietly as soon as he was far enough away.

Charlie walked on, eventually finding the ward that he was supposed to. He recognized the path since his father had just been to that ward, only a couple of years previously. He never wanted to be back, but if it helped out Emilia, he would be there for her.

Inside the ward, Charlie recognized a familiar face right away, though his name was still lingering on the tip of his tongue. Fortunately for him, the man started to talk to him first. "You must be one of them Weasley kids," he said. "Hippocrates Smethwyck. I was here when your father came in."

"Yes, I recognize you," Charlie said.

"Well, let's get her on a bed," Healer Smethwyck said, helping Charlie to bring Emilia to rest upon the small white hospital bed. "Is she your wife?"

"No!" both Charlie and Emilia said at the same moment. They both stared at each other, a bit baffled by the comment. "She's just a friend," Charlie eventually said.

"Okay," Healer Smethwyck said. "Now what happened to her?"

"She's a Muggle," Charlie started to explain. "She works as a doctor to animals and one of the dogs she's working with has been exposed to Chimaera blood. He just started showing the effects and he attacked her."

"What does Chimaera blood do?" Emilia asked, not sure of what to expect.

"It's not good," Healer Smethwyck explained. "Not all of the effects are completely known yet, but mostly it makes the being exposed go crazy."

"That's the medical terminology for it?" Charlie asked. "I guess Dragos was pretty correct there."

"Well, that's basically what it does. It does depend on the creature, but usually there's something that makes them act a bit crazy. I think dragons are the only creatures it doesn't really affect."

"Dragons?" Emilia asked, starting to understand.

"Yes, but they're not important," Charlie immediately said, trying to get Emilia not to think too much about them. She didn't want Emilia to figure it out in front of the Healer. No one was supposed to know about it. "What's important is what this is going to mean for Emilia. The dog came in contact with her, biting her hand. Some of the blood had to have been transferred. I've already seen the green marks on her hand."

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do," the man said. "There's no cure that's been found."

"That's unacceptable," Charlie fought. "You have to have a cure or something that you can work on. You can't just let this happen to her."

"I can heal her hand if you want," he answered. "But that's not going to stop the Chimaera blood that's already spread."

"I'm not crazy," Emilia suddenly interjected. "I'm fine."

"It takes some time to take affect," Healer Smethwyck said. "It will happen all right. It will make you go crazy."

"What about that other Healer?" Charlie asked. "That one that was here while my father was in here. He was willing to take some risks."

"He's gone," Healer Smethwyck said. "He was fired awhile ago."

"Well, you have to do something. I can't accept this. I'm not going to sit and watch her go crazy."

"I'll see what I can do," Smethwyck said, sighing, knowing that the journey ahead would be difficult.


	20. Chapter 20

Emilia opened her eyes, staring into the white walls of the room and feeling very alone for just a second

Emilia opened her eyes, staring into the white walls of the room and feeling very alone for just a second. She automatically flashed back to when she was seven years old and the last time she was in the hospital. She tried to keep her eyes shut, for fear of her father's yelling, but she soon realized he couldn't be in this hospital. It was not like the hospital she was in when she was seven. It was quite different. She wasn't alone either. She felt pressure upon her left hand. Someone was holding onto her, and it wasn't her father.

She quickly opened her eyes again to see a worried Charlie Weasley holding on. His tired eyes were barely open, and he was sitting sloppily on the chair he rested upon, but he was holding onto her hand tight.

"Charlie," Emilia whispered, not exactly sure how to capture his attention. She wasn't even sure that she wanted to disrupt his sleep.

He jumped up, opened his eyes, and sat back up, facing Emilia. "You're up." Charlie's expressionless mouth turned into a smile.

"Have you been here the whole time?" Emilia asked, surprised at Charlie's concern. Did he actually care about her?

"Yeah mostly," Charlie answered. "I didn't want to leave you." To Emilia's disappointed, Charlie took away his hand from Emilia's grasp at that moment. "Sorry."

Emilia meant to say it was okay. She liked his hand comforting her, but she couldn't quite find the words to say what she thought. "Thank you," was all that she could manage to say.

"It's my fault," Charlie revealed, resentful about the whole situation. "I'm sorry I got you into this. I'm sorry I couldn't stop that dog from attacking and that I don't know what to do to help you. Emilia, I don't know what to do." Charlie was honest at least. He wanted Emilia to know the entire truth.

Charlie was stressed, upset, and fearful. His eyes had dark lines underneath them and his face stared upon the ground. Emilia wasn't sure what to say again, but she came up with, "It's okay, Charlie. It's not your fault. I was stupid. I should've waited for animal control."

"No, it's my _world's_ fault," Charlie soon became sure of himself, speaking in confidence. "It's their fault because they injected chimaera blood into dragons. It's their fault because they set up a whole dragon operation center to do tests and surgeries on creatures that should be left alone. They didn't even tell me about the risks this involved when assigning me to the task and now I'm here worrying about you when I should be taking care of the newborn dragon." The vein in Charlie's neck stood out as he furiously stated his words.

Emilia had much to react to from Charlie's revelations, but the main thing she focused on was his last concern. "That baby was born?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, still with an angry stare, unable to be distracted by the main topic. "There's a lot that happened since I last saw you, and it's mostly not good. My boss found me just when the dragon baby was born. He told me about this whole project that was going on at my work that most people don't know about. Then, he told me about the contact with chimaera's blood, which is why I came over to the hospital so quickly. I didn't know you'd actually be there, but I knew that something was probably going to happen with the dogs."

"Wow," Emilia said, stunned. "You left everything for the dogs?"

"And you," Charlie whispered.

"You've changed, Charlie Weasley," Emilia said. "Since I first saw you, you've changed a lot. You used to be a jerk, but now you're here to help out the dogs. You never even cared before."

"I didn't know before." Charlie faced away from Emilia. He was ashamed of how he acted before actually knowing her and it was difficult to face her talking about it. He didn't want to be that person that grudgingly walked through the town of Newberry, upset to have to be involved with their minute problem. He didn't want to be that person who judged Emilia right away and thought she was an incapable mute. But he was that person, and he couldn't take away all of what he had done. He could only try his best now to make all of that up to Emilia and the town of Newberry.

"I've learned because of this job. I've learned about dogs and about Muggles and how they're not just simple beings that don't even deserve to be a part of this world. I've learned that life is complicated, even if you're a wizard and you think you know everything about your life or career." Charlie took a break in his speech and he began to realize much more about himself at that point. He faced Emilia again, before he started speaking again.

"I've learned that I've grown to care about you, Emilia. I've learned that I should just go ahead and say it because I might not admit it to myself or anyone else later. I've learned that I love kissing you, even if you might not like it."

Emilia blushed as Charlie walked close once again and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. "I like it when you kiss me too," Emilia confessed, surprising herself as she did so. Her instincts started taking over, finally allowing her to admit to her true feelings. "I like it when you're near me, and I like it when we talk. I like _you,_ Charlie Weasley."

A huge smile appeared on Charlie's face and Emilia realized it was a genuine one. She had been fearful because he had never shown a genuine smile because of her, but she realized now it was because he had never been truly happy. His feelings were just as confused as hers were when they were together.

Now that the truth was finally out, everything was much easier. She liked Charlie. Charlie liked her. If Emilia knew how much relief she would find at that moment, she would have told him a long time ago. If she knew for sure that Charlie liked her, she would have told him a long time ago. But that wasn't important now. Now they did know there was a mutual feeling and their relationship could build from there.

Emilia had a relationship with a boy. So what if she was in the hospital. It was a beautiful day.

"You're a fool, Emilia," Charlie said through his smile. "For liking me, you're a fool."

"I could say the same about you," Emilia said.

"How can you like a dragon keeper? How can you like someone who put your life in danger and who still hasn't completely protected the dogs that you've been trying to save?" Charlie asked.

"How can you like someone who doesn't speak?" Emilia asked. "How can you like someone who can talk to the fur variety better than the skin variety?"

"I don't think so," Charlie teased. "You can't beat me. I'm the more difficult person to like and you're the bigger fool, but at least you're _my_ fool."

"Fine, fine, I won't even try to compete," Emilia said. "But at least you're not going crazy."

"Shite," Charlie said. "We do need to figure that out, don't we? I can't have you going crazy on me as soon as I find out that you have all these crazy feelings for me."

Emilia smiled. "And you probably should check on that baby of yours. Don't you want to see her?"

"You're more important than her," Charlie said. "But would you mind if I left to go talk to some people? I do think Hermione could help and I have some more people that I could probably talk to."

"I'll be fine," Emilia said. "I can take care of myself for awhile."

"No, no," Charlie said. "I'm not leaving you by yourself. I'm going to get Bill to come watch over you."

"I could get used to this whole Charlie Weasley looking over me thing," Emilia said.

"You might have to," Charlie answered, relieved that his emotions were finally sorted out.

--

Emilia took a deep breath as she looked around in the room only several minutes after Charlie left. She had not even realized that the hand that had been swollen and incased with pain was completely healed now. Even if it hadn't been, she would have been so bold as to guess that she wouldn't have noticed. Not when Charlie was there. Emilia loved the wizarding world for several reasons, but most of all because it brought her Charlie. And it healed her hand without a problem. But then again, it was also going to make her go crazy.

Emilia stared upon her right hand, trying to search for the green that Charlie was talking about, but she couldn't see anything. Her hand looked perfectly normal. Maybe it was and there wasn't even a need for them to find a cure.

But then again, there were several dogs in the hospital infected by the blood. Those all must have been dogs attacked by the dragon. The blood must have transferred at some point when Linnie attacked them and broke through their skin. Charlie seemed to be fine from his contact with the dragon, so an open wound had to be what caused the Chimaera blood to infect someone.

"So we meet again." Emilia's eyes glanced upwards as she heard a familiar voice.

"Hi Bill," Emilia said, actually quite relieved to not be alone anymore. She needed to have someone else there to keep her calm and to not analyze every situation in depth. She needed her mind to not work like a detecting veterinarian's for the night. She was better off letting Charlie and the magical experts figure it all out.

Bill approached closer and took a seat on the chair that Charlie had been sitting in only a little while ago and Emilia automatically began to analyze him. She hadn't studied him too closely because she hadn't had the chance to see him in daylight. She noticed that he was much taller and thinner than Charlie, who was more on the stocky side. Emilia did like her boys stocky. Bill's hair was longer than Charlie's and he had an earring that looked like that of a tooth, most likely a fang, though of what animal, Emilia couldn't say for sure. His face was scarred a bit as well. Charlie had much more of an endearing and pretty face than he did.

"Are you studying me for comparisons?" Bill asked her, causing her to quickly shift her head away from him. He laughed before he said, "It's okay. Charlie's always been the prettier one. He's a good catch."

"I'm sorry," Emilia said, embarrassed. What was she doing? And why was she defending Charlie's good looks in her head? At least she could've made it a bit less obvious. Her face tended to tell everything. "I didn't mean to..."

"S'okay," Bill answered. "I know you didn't mean to. It's a subconscious thing, especially when you're in love."

"I'm not in love," Emilia quickly retorted.

"Fine, fine," Bill teased. "But it'll happen. Someday it will."

"Why are you so nice to me?" Emilia suddenly asked. "I could be some psychopath or something. I could be planning to kill your brother now. You don't even know anything about me."

"I have good instincts," Bill said. "And my instincts tell me that you make Charlie happy. That's all I want for my brother."

"So you don't care if I'm planning his murder or anything?" Emilia asked, realizing how easy it had become to talk to Bill. She was doing pretty well on the Weasley family communications or maybe it was just the medicine talking.

"You're not planning his murder," Bill said. "I can tell. You're good."

"Is that what your instincts tell you?" Emilia asked.

"Yeah," Bill answered, staring down at the white hardwood flooring.

"I certainly hope your instincts are better than Charlie's," Emilia whispered to herself, though not quite loudly enough for Bill to hear. She remembered the day she met Charlie, where his instincts told him to stay away from her.

"So what seems to be the problem here, Miss Reynolds?" Bill asked. "I took you home safely last night. Did your friend attack you or something?"

Emilia was sure Charlie would've explained to Bill, but he obviously hadn't. She wasn't exactly sure how to explain it all because she didn't understand it all herself. "My friend?"

"Yeah, that blonde that we saw just outside of Charlie's," Bill teased. "Did she do this to you?"

Emilia laughed, though thought rather bitterly of the situation again. That was right. Talia was upset with her. How was she supposed to fix that?

"Oh," Emilia finally answered. "No, I haven't seen Talia again. I got a call from my work that a dog had attacked his owner and my assistance was needed right away. I rushed off and found that they had him trapped in a waiting room. Animal control was called, but I thought I could handle it on my own, so I went in the room, ready to sedate him. As soon as I approached him close enough, he bit my hand, though I was able to sedate him before he could do anymore damage. Charlie luckily came soon afterwards and took me here."

"Why'd he take you here?" Bill asked, seemingly concerned. "Aren't there Muggle hospitals? I'm surprised he even got you in here."

"I didn't know why either at first, but I knew that the bite was extremely painful. He took me here, and he explained that the dragon had been infected with chimaera blood or something like that. The dog that attacked me was one of the dragon's almost victims and biting me infected me with that chimaera blood. He said he saw something green on me."

Bill pulled his head upwards and stared at Emilia's right hand. "I don't see it," Bill said. "It must have been cleaned. What does chimaera blood do anyways?"

"They said it makes you go crazy," Emilia said. "It made that dog attack. It doesn't affect dragons, but it affects everyone else."

"Oh," Bill sighed. "I see now. So you're waiting for them to stop you from going crazy?"

"I'm waiting for them to figure out how to cure me," Emilia answered. "There's no cure right now."

"There has to be a cure." Bill didn't accept it, just like his brother. "They have a cure for everything."

"Apparently not for chimaera blood infections." Emilia was relatively calm as she continued to speak of what was happening to her. It really must have been the medicine.

"Can't they use a Blood Replenishing Potion or something?" Bill said.

"Is that like a blood transfusion or something?" Emilia asked.

"Don't know," Bill said. "What's a blood transfusion?"

"It's like a transfer of blood," Emilia explained. "One dog donates blood to transfer into a dog that is losing blood and needs it to survive." Emilia paused for a second, before she went on to clarify, "I mean person, not dog. It can be done with dogs, but in my case it would be humans."

"Muggles can do that?"

"Yeah," Emilia answered. "It's not that difficult. What's a Blood Replenishing Potion?"

"It's like a transfusion I guess," Bill said. "But you don't need the donor blood, you just need to take the potion and the blood'll be restored."

"Do you think that would work?" Emilia asked, hopeful.

"I'm not sure," Bill said. "But it sounds like a good option."

--

Charlie pressed on through the woods of a Muggle town that he did not even care to know the name of. He thought he would because that was the birth place of the Hungarian Horntail, but he didn't even care. He didn't even really care about that dragon too much now. He loved his work. He loved his dragons. But he knew the distinction between dragons and humans. Humans were more important. Finding a cure for Emilia was more important than worrying about a newborn dragon that would be able to function without his guidance.

Charlie walked into the forest, completely forgetting about where he left his Cleansweap. He couldn't even remember if he took it with him.

He whispered, "_Accio_," quietly, hoping it would come for him. Luckily, it did come to him seconds later.

He mounted his broom, flying up into the sky, where the sun was just beginning to rise. The sun would not do him any favors, but at least Linnie was still partially blind. Her baby was not, however.

Charlie continued to fly, hoping to find Hermione without a problem. She said she'd watch the baby, but what had happened between then and now? He hadn't planned on being away for so long and he left Vasile without an explanation. Hopefully, Vasile understood.

Charlie flew around for several minutes before he cast his eyes upon a curly-haired man. Vasile was still there, and he seemed to be waiting for Charlie. Hermione was there as well, watching the baby dragon and her mother interact. They both stared at Charlie as soon as he made his presence known.

"Thank Merlin," Vasile said when Charlie came by. "I thought you might've just ran off. I guess Hermione was right. You're a more honourable guy than that."

Charlie didn't want to fight or to even speak with Vasile at that point. He needed to talk to Hermione. Hermione would know what to do. "I can't do this right now," Charlie told his boss. "I need Hermione's help."

"What's going on?" Hermione grew concerned. She quickly tied her long bushy hair into a ponytail, where she kept it hidden behind her back. Charlie noticed that she grew intense with only a couple of his words. She was ready to help out at any point.

"It's Emilia," Charlie announced. He went on to explain about the chimaera blood and the dog attacking and her waiting at St. Mungos without a cure. By the time he finished, he realized tears starting to form in his eyes. He didn't mean to be all emotional about it, but a bit of that came out. Hopefully neither Hermione nor Dragos would notice.

"I'm sorry." Vasile was actually the first one to speak after the explanation. "I didn't realize that's why you ran off. I should've told you sooner."

"You're damn right about that," Charlie suddenly was ready for an outburst. "You should've told me a lot of things sooner. You should've told me the risks this involved. You should've told me it wasn't going to be such a quick fix and you shouldn't have been so brief about my assignment or my whole job. I feel like I've been living a lie since I started working in Romania."

Charlie then calmed down the second he finished ranting. He instantaneously realized that wasn't his big problem. That's not what he should focus on. "Never mind." He restrained himself. "We can talk about this later. I need Hermione's help now. I need her to fix this."

"I can watch the baby while you two go to London," Vasile announced. "Just as long as you promise to come back, Weasley. I need your help to bring Linnie back to Romania."

"She's not going back to the bank?" Charlie asked, soon realizing Vasile's intention.

"No," Vasile answered. "I couldn't do that to her. You're right, it's cruel."

Charlie wanted to ask more, to pry more into the dragon manager's mind, but he couldn't at that point. Emilia's life was on the line. Linnie had more time. "Thank you," Charlie said, before leaving.

Charlie and Hermione flew away from where they could be spotted by the dragon and her offspring. They remained quiet amongst themselves until they managed to Apparate themselves to St. Mungos.

"I'm not quite sure what I can do," Hermione finally broke the silence as they approached the broken down building. "I haven't heard anything about this chimaera blood before, and I don't know if it's in my abilities to make a treatment plan."

"Hermione, you're a walking library," Charlie said. "You can figure out anything. You can help save a human life, can't you?"

"I can try," Hermione declared, "but I can't make any promises."

They approached the dummy and in no time walked into the lobby of the hospital. "It's Emilia," Charlie said. "You've got to try. You've got to do something for her."

"Charlie Weasley!" Hermione suddenly stopped in her tracks, coming to a realization. "Do you like Emilia?"

Charlie blushed, trying to push Hermione along. He noticed intense stares as soon as Hermione declared her realization. "Yes," Charlie whispered, as soon as Hermione started walking again.

A huge smile appeared on Hermione's face. "Well, let's go fix her."


	21. Chapter 21

Emilia continued to lie in her bed, softly talking to Bill. She hoped that Bill was correct about the Blood Replenishing Potion idea. She was ready to be out of the hospital. Even though it had only been a few hours, she hated it. All hospitals were alike, even wizarding ones, and she felt nauseous just due to the fact that she was in a hospital. It brought back painful childhood memories, which she was able to suppress if she was away from those reminders of her pain. But being in a situation like she was in, she was not able to suppress those memories.

She once thought working in an animal hospital would remind her of the time her appendix was taken out, when her father was so cruel, but that never happened. The animal hospital was like a haven to her… a place where she could escape away from her father's fury.

The worst years were the years that her brother was away at university, while she still had to be home. It was difficult to escape the home when her brother wasn't there to take her some place or to defend her. She started visiting the local animal shelters more and more on those weekends. She just needed to get away from her father. He usually didn't care about her so long as she was away.

Emilia turned her head to view Charlie walking into the room, while Hermione walked slightly behind him. Her worries seemed to dissolve as soon as Charlie entered. She felt like she had someone she could rely on when Charlie was there. Gone were the days that he worried her. He was reliable and he would find a way to help her out. She was sure of that.

"You're back," Emilia said, as Charlie immediately grabbed onto Emilia's hand and gentle kissed it. He continued to hold on, while Hermione approached next to Charlie. Emilia realized Charlie wasn't afraid to admit that something was going on between the two of them. That meant a lot to her.

"Did you think I'd just go and run off?" Charlie amusingly asked.

"Well," Emilia spoke. "I guess not. I'm just happy to see you now."

"I was only away for a little bit," Charlie said. "Bill couldn't have been that terrible, could he have?"

"No, no," Emilia defended Bill. "In fact, Bill was great. I think he found something that might work against this crazy thing that's taking over my body."

"Really?" Charlie asked, while Hermione pulled a seat into the room for herself, as well as Charlie. Charlie sat down before he began to speak again. "But that's my job. I left to go find a cure, or at least someone who could find a cure. You're not supposed to figure it out. I'm supposed to help."

"Jealous much?" Bill asked. Emilia was beginning to like Bill a lot. Not only did he accept her and encourage her from the beginning, but he was pretty good at reading people, especially his brother. He seemed to know Charlie's intentions better than maybe even Charlie knew.

"What?" Charlie asked, a bit confused. "No, not at all. No, that's good. What did you think of Bill?"

"The chimaera blood infects her blood, doesn't it?" Bill asked.

"I think so," Charlie answered, wondering where Bill was going with his explanation. If he could figure out a quick way to cure her, he wanted to do it.

"The only way to get the infection out of her would be to cleanse her blood, wouldn't it?" Bill continued to explain.

"Yeah," Hermione finally said, adding input into the conversation. She saw where the explanation is going. "So you think a Blood Replenishing Potion would work?"

"Possibly," Bill answered.

"Or something more like a blood transfusion," Hermione added.

"That's what I said." Emilia was excited to have actually contributed to the conversation. She didn't know much about magic, but she knew medicine, and she wanted to show that she could help. It was her life they were trying to save after all.

"It would probably have to be something more like a total blood restoration," Hermione said, working it through her brain. "In order to get rid of all of the chimaera blood, we'd have to take all of her blood out and replace it."

"Wait. Hold on a second," Charlie said. "You can't take all of her blood out. She'd die."

"I'm having to agree with Charlie on that," Emilia said, squeezing Charlie's hand tighter. That couldn't be the cure. She wouldn't live through a total blood replacement. She knew enough about medicine in dogs to deduce that.

"You're forgetting that magic can be pretty powerful," Hermione started to explain. "I'm pretty sure I can find a spell that can keep her alive for at least a little bit without any blood in her body. We can take out the blood pretty quickly and we'd be able to give her a potion right after it's all gone. She'd only need to be kept alive for minutes, possible only seconds."

"Do you have to take all the blood away?" Charlie asked. He was concerned and he wasn't liking the idea of keeping Emilia alive by some unknown spell, while her body was without blood. He didn't know too much about healing, but he was pretty damn sure that blood was important. "Can't you just use the Blood Replenishing Potion and allow the bad blood to be filtered out?"

"I don't think that's going to work," Hermione answered. "Chimaera blood is pretty powerful stuff from what I've read. Pouring more blood into her system isn't going to help. We're going to need to get rid of all of it."

"Doesn't the chimaera blood look green to you?" Emilia asked, trying to find a way out of replacing all of her blood.

"Yeah, it does!" Charlie shouted, suddenly excited. He knew what Emilia was thinking. "We can just sort out the green blood. We don't need to replace everything."

"I don't think that's going to work," Hermione doubted.

"Way to be Ms. Positive." Charlie was beginning to get angry at Hermione. He wanted her help, not her skepticism.

"I'm not here to give false hope," Hermione explained. "I'm here to be realistic. You wanted my advice and this is it. It's not going to work because her blood is most likely already completely mixed with the chimaera blood. You can't sort that out. It's either all or nothing."

Charlie stared at Emilia hearing those words and noticed Emilia staring her eyes forward into nothingness. Her cheeks were dull and her mouth was halfway open as she breathed heavily. Charlie knew she was beginning to become afraid. She had trusted Charlie up to this point, but now Hermione was scaring her with the reality of the situation.

"Hey," Charlie said, scooting even closer towards Emilia. "It's going to be okay." Charlie started to act as if they were the only ones in the room, zoning out Bill and Hermione. "We're going to figure this out and you're going to be fine. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise."

"I know," Emilia said focusing herself away from her daze and back to Charlie's assuring eyes.

--

"I've tried paging ten times," a blond-haired lady said facing her somewhat plump boss. "She's not picking up. I have no clue where she went."

"Aren't you two friends?" the plump lady asked, flicking a piece of her black hair out of from in front of her face.

"Yes," the blond-haired lady explained. "But the last time I saw her, we were fighting."

"What exactly happened?"

"It was stupid."

"What happened, Ms. Bernard?"

"I guess I had a little bit too much to drink last night," Talia started to explain. "I went by Charlie's shack afterwards, and I saw Emilia walking out of there. I kind of got mad at her when I saw her."

"Why?" Kristen Baker asked her employee.

"I told Emilia that I liked Charlie," Talia revealed. "I thought being my friend she'd think he'd be off bounds for her. I might've jumped to conclusions, but even if she was seeing Charlie, I don't care right now. She's my best friend, and we need to find her."

"She just disappeared," Baker said. "I told her to wait while I put Yuri away, and when I came back she was gone."

"I don't think she has her pager with her," Talia said. "She always picks up, and she hasn't picked up at all now. Have you contacted the hospital? Maybe she was able to get their on her own somehow."

"Yes," Baker said desperately. "I've tried them several times, but no one fitting Emilia's description has been in."

"Keep trying the hospital," Talia demanded. "I'll go to Charlie's place to see if he knows anything."

"Fine," Baker said. "But I don't like this drama that's going on with him and you two. You're acting like teenagers."

"I know," Talia revealed. "And it won't happen again."

"Good."

--

"Thank you," Emilia said, facing Charlie. He was her hope. He was the one person who was going to help her get through this. Hermione had the brains, but Hermione wasn't exactly pleasant. She may have been realistic, but she terrified Emilia with her realities. Emilia's life was going well as of late, and she wasn't ready for such a curse upon her fate right now.

"I'm sorry Hermione was like that," Charlie said. "I guess I don't know her as well as I thought. I thought she was smart enough to know when to quit it. I guess she's not perfect."

"No," Emilia answered. "She's real. I don't blame her, I'm just glad you got her to go away for a bit. I'd rather her ideas come to her when I'm not around."

Charlie had asked both Hermione and Bill to step out in the hallway to talk, allowing for some privacy for the two and allowing for Hermione to share her views, without Emilia having to overhear them. Sometimes it was best not to hear the complete truth, especially in the development of a plan.

"Are you doing okay?" Charlie stared at her and asked her seriously.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's just weird. One moment I was perfectly healthy, walking to work. The next moment I was attacked and had you by my side and was told that I'm going crazy and there's no cure to my craziness. Life can really take that quick turn on you, can't it?"

"Yeah," Charlie answered, immediately thinking of how his life had changed. One moment he was watching his dragons in Romania, content with his life, and the next moment he was in Newberry meeting Emilia. He would have never guessed how much she could have changed his life. He would have never guessed out of the three people he met that fateful night that Emilia would be the one that captured his heart. Okay, so at least Emilia was better than that Irma girl, but Talia was the one that caught his attention. Now he couldn't even think of Talia in the same way he used to. She was a pretty girl, but she wasn't Emilia.

"Do you think I should call my brother or anyone?" Emilia suddenly asked worriedly. "Is it serious enough to let people know this is happening to me? I'd want to at least talk to my brother if something were to happen."

"I…" Charlie was afraid of the answer. He wanted to confidently tell her it was no big deal and they'd figure it out. Family wouldn't have to be called at all. But he knew that wasn't the truth. He couldn't look at her and lie to her. He'd want to know the truth as well to be able to talk to those he cared about. But he also promised her that she'd be fine. If later he realized not much was going to work, he'd tell her the truth no matter how much she'd hate him, but now there was still hope. "No, you don't need to. You're going to get better."

"Thank you," Emilia said.

"Wait a second," Charlie suddenly had an idea. "I think I know what'll help. I've got to talk to Hermione. Are you okay here by yourself for a bit?"

"I'll survive," Emilia said.

Charlie walked outside to the hallway where Hermione and Bill were talking. He listened in on them before he made his presence known.

"Even if we do that, we don't know if it'll work," Hermione spoke. "Cleaning her blood is a good idea, but what if it's already spread to the rest of her body? The blood won't even matter. She'll still have the infection elsewhere. I just don't know if that'll help."

"Can't we try?" Bill asked. "We can't just sit here and be too scared to try to help her. And the longer we wait, the more it'll spread."

"That's true," Hermione said.

"I've got it," Charlie said, jumping in. He couldn't take any more of Hermione's doubts. He had to announce his idea and hope for the best. "What about a bezoar?"

Hermione contemplated it for a second, while both Charlie and Bill stared at her, waiting for her to decide if it would work. "I'm not sure," Hermione said.

"I think it's perfect," Bill said. "It heals most poisons. Why couldn't it heal someone who's been infected with chimaera blood?"

"Is that really a poison?" Hermione asked. "It's just blood."

"But it's blood that's acting like a mood altering potion," Charlie said. "It makes whoever is in contact with it act differently. Bezoars are antidotes to some potions."

That did make a bit of sense to Hermione, but she was still not sure. "That's too easy," she said, though clearly in the back of her mind she was thinking of the time Harry used a bezoar to impress Slughorn. "I'm sure they've tried that already in trying to come up with a cure."

"I'm not sure if there've been too many people that have been infected with chimaera blood," Charlie said. "They just might not have had enough people to test the cure with. We could at least fine out."

"Fine," Hermione said, though she was still in doubt. "Why don't you ask the Healer?"

"That I will," Charlie answered, happily.

Charlie set out right away to find Healer Smethwyck. He wanted to find the cure right away and he knew he had to hurry anyways. Time was an issue, even if Charlie didn't know exactly how much time he had.

He searched around the Dai Llewellyn ward, hoping to find the Healer. He eventually did, where the man was checking into another patient's room. Charlie waited until the Healer exited the room, so that he could ask him.

"I have an idea," Charlie said, focusing into the man's bright blue eyes. Charlie realized that Healer Smethwyck always seemed to have a scowl on his face and it was especially apparent now.

"Go on," Smethwyck said encouraging him on.

"What about a bezoar? Have you ever tried that?"

"Bezoars are very difficult to come by," Smethwyck said, leaning against the white wall of the hospital. Charlie came to stand right near him, not minding the closeness in order to put pressure on the man. "We haven't had too many people infected by chimaera blood, but we've never been able to test a bezoar with any of them. They are rare and we only have them in store for things we know are sure to work."

Charlie folded his arms as he sighed. "But do you think a bezoar would work?"

"I have no way of knowing," Smethwyck said. "My guess is as good as yours."

"But you're a healer!" Charlie yelled frustrated. Smethwyck didn't seem to know at all what he was doing. Charlie couldn't understand at all how he got his position. "You should know."

"I'm sorry," Smethwyck said, as he began to walk trying to avoid Charlie's pressures. He was becoming quite uncomfortable, especially with Charlie so close to him. He knew that was Charlie's intent, but he was struggling to find out much at all about chimaera blood. "I don't even know exactly what chimaera blood does. It might infect the blood. It might infect the body. It could be a poison or it could just have an ingredient inside the blood that attacks humans in some way. I'd have to know all of that in order to find a cure."

"Well we don't have time for that." Charlie walked with brisk footsteps to keep up with Smethwyck. "She's going to change soon. We have to find a cure before that happens."

"It wouldn't hurt to try the bezoar," Smethwyck reasoned.

Charlie listened to his words carefully and realized he was right. What was the worst thing that bezoar could do? Leave a bad taste? "You're right," Charlie said as he ran off.

"Where are you going?" Smethwyck shouted.

"To find a bezoar."


	22. Chapter 22

Charlie walked through the Romanian reserve, once again not wanting to stop to talk or to even look around the place he considered his home

Charlie walked through the Romanian reserve, once again not wanting to stop to talk or to even look around the place he considered his home. He could not even focus on his frustrations with the place as he located his dragon healer friend, Damon Randa, once again.

"What can I do you for, Weasley?" Damon asked, this time aware of Charlie's presence as soon as he walked into his office. "Have another puppy you want me to save?"

Charlie knew Damon was trying to get to him, but he didn't care. He was on a mission and no jokes would stop him. He had to hope that Damon at least wasn't mad at him for bringing him to save a dog. He needed Damon's help again.

"Do you have any bezoars?" Charlie immediately asked, planting himself in front of Damon. Charlie knew he had to put as much pressure as he could on Damon to get him to take him seriously.

"Yeah," Damon answered, studying Charlie's flushed expression. His stare was intense and Damon stood up because he knew that this conversation with Charlie was probably going to be like the one from before, but this time he wanted all of the facts before committing himself to Charlie's cause.

"I need one," Charlie said.

"Why?" Damon asked. He wasn't going to be so lenient this time.

Charlie wasn't going to lie. His excuse was a valid one anyways and it was lucky that Damon had already met Emilia. He would have to realize it was worth it for the girl that he already met. "Do you remember Emilia?" Charlie asked. "Taffy's owner."

"Yes," Damon answered, realizing this was some Muggle thing again. On the spot Damon couldn't withdraw himself from helping out a Muggle and her dog, but that wasn't going to happen again. He wouldn't help her out again. It wasn't natural for Muggles to get help from wizards. That's not the way the world worked.

"She needs one," Charlie explained. "I can't go into all of the details now, but she may die without it. Can you get one for me?"

"No," Damon answered briefly, turning away from Charlie. Charlie was pressuring him by walking closer to him and staring directly at him. Damon wasn't going to fall for his tricks. "They're for extreme cases for dragons. They're not even supposed to be used for wizards, let alone Muggles. There's no way I can do it."

"Don't you want to know what's happening to her?" Charlie asked, though he didn't even give Damon a chance to answer. "She's dying because of us. She's dying because of what our world did to her. She's been infected by chimaera blood which will make her go crazy."

"Going crazy isn't dying," Damon defended. He knew Emilia didn't deserve her fate, but it was still not his decision to give Charlie a bezoar, which was only to be used in extreme emergencies for dragons.

"It might as well be for someone like Emilia," Charlie said. "Come on, Damon, she needs it. This is an emergency."

"It's not a dragon emergency," Dragos said. "I can't do you any more favors. I got in enough trouble as it was helping out that darn dog. How do you think it's going to look if I suddenly go and steal one the few bezoars we have?"

A sudden thought rushed to Charlie, and he decided to go with it. He probably should have thought of it in the first place, but at least he could say it now. "Vasile's already approved it," Charlie explained. "You won't get in trouble."

"Right," Damon sarcastically said. "Dragos Vasile, the person in Romania who least cares about dragons, let alone people, has approved a bezoar to be used for a Muggle."

"Do you want proof?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Damon answered."

--

Dragos Vasile sat atop a generic named broom staring at a newborn Hungarian Horntail. He could instantly tell that it was a male because of the second set of bronze horns on top of his head. Females didn't have the second set of horns because the male horns were to battle other dragons with. The male with the longest and the thickset horns usually won, which was an advantage for picking a mate. Both females and males competed for their choice of a mate, but it was ultimately the male's decision because of the male battle.

Dragos watched as the young dragon played around with his roar, testing it out and preparing to scavenge around for his first meal. A dragon was completely capable of living on his own at birth, though mothers were typical protective of their offspring. They would help their offspring succeed in the early battles and guard them from enemies. They would teach them how to hunt successfully and eventually they would guide them to find the best potential mate. Dragons wanted their genes to thrive and keeping an eye on their offspring was a good way for them to succeed at the task of survival.

Dragos noticed that this male was already particularly fierce. It made him angry to realize it was probably because he inherited some of the chimaera blood from his mother, which would make him a likely candidate to eventually be a dragon to send to Gringotts. It also made it likely that this dragon was likely going to do harm on his first hunt, and he wasn't even sure if the location offered any food for him. Dragos had not even had time to explore around, though he hoped Weasley had done enough research before settling on this town.

The baby dragon started to flutter his wings, hoping to take flight. Dragos noticed Linnie snort a puff of air, encouraging him onwards. He also noticed a broken string attached to Linnie's hind leg. It must have been easy for Linnie to break free of the tether Weasley and his family put in place. That wouldn't hold a regular Hungarian Horntail, let alone a chimaera blood induced Horntail.

Dragos knew he was going to need to move the pair back to Romania soon, before they settled into the new town. He might even have to get together some people before Weasley was ready for him to. Dragos wanted Weasley's help in bringing the dragon back, but what happened with his friend was making that difficult. However, Dragos was prepared to journey forward without Weasley. The results might not come out as positively for him, but he would have to do it.

Flying through the sky that was just beginning to show the early morning lights came two of Dragos's employees, Weasley and Randa. Dragos took a sigh of relief, appreciative to have two of his employees at his disposal. But had Weasley's friend found a cure already and why was Randa, a dragon healer, there as well?

"What are you doing here?" Randa was the first one to speak. He was flying on a Firebolt and he seemed to be flying quite well. Dragos soon remembered from his file that Randa used to play for the Caerphilly Catapults, and he retired after three bad seasons. He still seemed to enjoy the game, or at least the use of a broom.

"I should ask you the same thing," Dragos said, taking his professional manner. It was not difficult for him to act as a different person, manipulating his employees into finding out only what he wanted them to find out. He didn't enjoy the manipulation, but he had to do it in order to protect them.

"Charlie said that you approved him taking a bezoar to help his Muggle friend out," Randa explained. "I didn't believe him."

"Why not?" Dragos asked, giving him more time to think about the situation at hand. He was inclined to agree with Weasley's action since Weasley knew what was going on. But he still had to figure out why Weasley wanted the bezoar and why Randa wouldn't give it to him.

"Well…er…" Randa tried to figure it out. "She's a Muggle and I didn't think you'd approve giving a Muggle a rare healing object when in fact it may not actually heal her."

That was enough for Dragos to make up his mind. He did feel guilty in causing the Muggle to be harmed and if Weasley thought it was important to help her, he did as well. "Well, you're wrong," Dragos simply said.

"Oh." Randa seemed confused. "So it's okay?"

"Yes," Dragos answered, while thinking of another action. He revealed it right away. "You two are to go back to Romania, where Randa will gather up the A team, as well as McPherson and Evans, to come here to move Linnie and her son. Randa will direct Weasley to where the bezoar is, and Weasley will take the bezoar to the Muggle. We will move Linnie today."

Dragos knew that was the perfect plan to allow Weasley to get the bezoar without any suspicion, as well as to move the pair of dragons. They would have to figure out a way to appeal to the Dragon Council later, but hopefully Weasley's friend would be healed by then.

"I'm not a dragon keeper," Randa said. "That's not my job. Why can't I get the bezoar?"

"Are you arguing with me?" Dragos demanded respect. It was the best he could do.

"No sir." Randa struggled to understand why he was taking over something that should be Charlie's duty, but he could not question it any further. Dragos was his head boss.

"Sir," Weasley started to say. "I have notes about Linnie's weaknesses in my shack in Newberry. Are you going to want those notes?"

"Yes," Dragos said. "After you get the bezoar, head to Newberry for those papers and bring them here. You can go to the hospital after retrieving the papers."

"Yes sir," Weasley answered. "Thank you," he whispered, so only Dragos could hear him.

--

"She's not here," the infamous screechy voice of Jessamine Declar vibrated in Talia's ears.

"When did you last see her?" Talia asked, trying to muster out details from the woman who annoyed her even more than Irma sometimes.

"Early this morning," Jessamine answered. "Her boss woke me up."

"You haven't seen her since then?" Talia asked. It was like pulling teeth asking Jessamine's questions.

"No," Jessamine said, lackadaisically.

"Thanks," Talia muttered before she turned around to go to Charlie's shack.

Talia's head throbbed with pain as she entered her car to go to Cavalier Cottage. She drank way too much last night, and she was feeling the effects now. She couldn't even remember why she wanted to drink so much and why she had been so mad at Emilia because all she wanted now was to see her friend again. Boys weren't as important as friends and if Emilia was interested in Charlie, good for her. As much as Talia would have liked to have found the answer to her boy problems in Charlie, it was okay if he wasn't the answer, especially if there was something going on between Charlie and Emilia. Didn't she want her friend to be happy?

She wanted her friend to be alive too, she realized as she sped along the quiet streets of Newberry. It was still early in the morning and during those hours few were on the roads. It was easy to get away with speeding, especially with the lenient laws of the town. There were relatively few policemen and they tended to just stop outsiders. They didn't find pleasure in fining their own citizens just for driving a bit too quickly.

Talia eventually made it to Cavalier Cottage, the town's most broken down destination, where she jumped out of her car and rushed off to the place Charlie was staying in. Talia noticed that there weren't any cars at all in the parking lot, not even one of the place's workers. Not too many people visited Newberry and those who did tended not to stay in the old cottage. Talia figured that Charlie was just trying to save money, and she now regretted not inviting him to her place during his stay.

Talia made it to the door of the number Charlie had told her was his room. She knocked on the door loudly, but realized in several seconds that there was no answer. He obviously was not there.

She peeked into the window of the place, appreciative that the blinds did not cover the room up completely. She could see a tiny crack into the room, where she noted the two beds of the room. Talia wondered why he needed two beds, and she did see that both had been occupied at some point. Was Emilia sleeping with him? But even if she was, why the separate beds? She couldn't imagine her friend being there with him without her even knowing a thing about it. He must have had some other company.

Talia noticed Charlie's trunk filling up the room, clothes were spread out everywhere, rubbish all over the floor. There seemed to be some strange clothes in the closet – black robes of some sort, but she couldn't say it definitely because she was just peeking through the window.

Eventually Talia decided that Charlie wasn't going to be any help because he wasn't there. She didn't want to spy on him anymore, so she turned around ready to head back to her car. Before she did though, she realized that she could at least leave Charlie a note.

She sorted through her purse and found a sheet of paper that had _Newberry Animal Hospital _written at the top of it. She then grabbed a pen and wrote:

_Charlie,_

_I don't know if you can help, but since there is a possibility I am asking you. Emilia has gone missing after being injured. We don't know where she went and I'm worried about her. Please, if you know anything, let me know. I'm scared for my friend._

_Talia Bernard_

Talia took the note and slid it under the door, hoping he would notice it right away. She then turned around again to head back to her car, when she noticed Charlie appearing out of nowhere.

It took a moment for Charlie to recognize Talia, but when he did he appeared upset. His eyes glanced down towards the ground and the charm that was usually there was missing. Even his walk seemed to be sad.

He also was carrying something in his left hand that he tried to hide the moment he saw Talia. It looked like a stone, but it was dark in color and it looked a bit hairy.

"Charlie," Talia said excited, but nervous to see him again. Even though she had not known him for long, many emotions ran through her when she saw him. But she did have to ignore them because that was not her intent this morning. "I was looking for you."

"You found me," Charlie said in a low, emotionless tone.

"Have you seen Emilia?" Talia asked. "I… well… something happened with her, and I don't know where she went."

"Why should I know?" Charlie rudely spat out. He was disinterested.

"I thought…" Talia started. "I guess not." Talia was not going to pry. Charlie didn't seem to know anything and she wasn't going to fight for him to be what she wanted. She did have one final question though. "What's that in your hand?" she asked referring to the stone-like object.

He stared at her and clenched the stone a little tighter. He seemed to be thinking for awhile before he finally made the decision on the next words he was going to say. "I think we need to talk," Charlie said.


	23. Chapter 23

"What's going on?" Talia asked Charlie. He had a rundown look to him and his eyes were drained with tiredness. He looked like he had been awake for hours, but he also looked like he wasn't ready to slow down any time soon.

"I know where Emilia is," Charlie answered.

He stepped away from Talia and started to walk. It seemed like his intention was for Talia to follow him, so she jumped into the position next to him, ready for him to tell her what he knew. "Where is she?" Talia asked curiously. Charlie was apparently the right person to turn to.

"I… I can't." Charlie was hurt by his own words. He wasn't sure what to do. He knew Emilia would like her friend's company, but it just couldn't work like that. It took time to get approval for Muggles to be allowed to use magic in front of Muggles, and he just didn't have that time right now. He needed to focus on getting the bezoar to test on Emilia.

Charlie turned back around, walking again close to his shack, where his notes were located. Talia obediently followed him, still waiting for more. "Charlie, what's going on?" she repeated. "You have to tell me. Emilia's my best friend."

"You don't understand," Charlie said. "There's so much that you don't know."

"Then tell me!" Talia demanded. "Please tell me, Charlie, because I need to know what's going on with her. You can't keep me out of the dark when it involves Emilia."

"Can you at least give me a minute?" Charlie asked. He needed to get the notes to his boss so he could at least he could start moving the dragon.

Talia didn't answer when Charlie took out his keys to his room. However, she followed him into the room as he stayed quiet and searched through his things.

He seemed to be searching through a stack of papers that had words lazily written upon them. Talia figured it was Charlie's handwriting, and she didn't bother to skim over it to see any of the words. Instead, she focused her eyes on the room, seeing more of the mess that Charlie had made.

She focused on the trunk that had the clothes that looked like robes in it, and she realized she was correct in her earlier assumption; they were robes, which was very odd indeed. He also had an owl sitting on a perch in the room, and it looked like the same owl that flew into the hospital yesterday. She would have been suspicious of it, but she did remember Charlie's explanation from before.

But still, there was something strange about the room. Inside it looked bigger than it looked like on the outside. It didn't look like the two beds could have easily fit inside, but they did. Yet, was that really so strange? Why was she analyzing everything about the room?

Charlie picked up two of the papers that he found amongst the pile of notes. He folded them up and carried them in his left hand, the same hand that currently occupied the stone-like thing that still mystified Talia. Charlie had not gone into the explanation about that yet.

"I've got to go," Charlie finally said trying to decide what to do with Talia. He couldn't bring her with him and he couldn't just leave her without any explanation.

"I'm coming with you," Talia demanded, walking towards Charlie, who was walking towards the exit of the room.

"No you're not," Charlie said, turning around make sure Talia didn't follow him. He was going to have to allow her to stay in his room while he was away. "You can't come with me." Charlie looked right into Talia's eyes, trying to emphasize his points. "I know you don't understand, but you can't come. Just stay here, and I'll be back soon. I promise."

Talia still didn't understand, but she knew by the way that Charlie asserted himself that he was serious. She wanted to follow him, but she would wait… at least a bit. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"To save Emilia's life."

--

"What about leeches?" Hermione put the book she was currently carrying down on her lap, turning to Healer Rossi, the healer in training that promised to help with the task at hand.

Rossi put down her book as well and faced Hermione, keeping her hands near the fireplace to keep warm. The two were sitting in a meeting room, relatively far away from where Emilia's room was. Bill had gone to stay with Emilia while Charlie was away, and Hermione knew she probably wasn't going to be helpful to be near Emilia. She was brought to find the cure and that's what she was going to do. Smethwyck had assigned the newest Dai Llewellyn recruit to help her out.

"Leeches," Rossi said. "What would they do?"

"Leeches suck blood in an efficient way," Hermione declared. "Muggles used them a long time ago for bloodletting. We could do something like that, but more in a wizarding way. Do you think we'd be able to train them to the scent of the chimaera blood and get them to suck out just the chimaera blood from Emilia's blood? That way we wouldn't have to make her go through this whole procedure of blood replacement."

Hermione knew it was a bit crazy to be suggesting a technique that was used before much was known medically. But she thought it was possible in combination with wizarding techniques that it would work and help Emilia.

"We could probably train them," Rossi said. "But then we'd have leeches that would be infected by this. From what I've read, the smaller the animal, the less time it takes for the craziness to take over. I wouldn't be surprised if the leeches were affected while sucking away at the chimaera blood. I don't think you'd want to risk their behavior while on her. It's not safe."

"You're right," Hermione said, surprised at the intellect of the trainee. "I forgot about that."

Hermione picked her book right back up and started staring at it again. She was determined to find a better cure than the one she originally heard. There had to be a way to fight it.

A few minutes later Healer Smethwyck came by letting Hermione know that Charlie was back. He had the bezoar with him, and he was ready to test it out.

Hermione wanted to watch incase it did actually work, so she left Rossi to go to Emilia's room.

She approached and saw that Charlie had the stone-like object, ready to give to Emilia. He grasped it in his left hand and showed it to Emilia, who looked disgusted at first glimpse of the object. It probably was not a good idea on Charlie's part to let her actually see the object.

Hermione watched as Emilia remained quiet, while Charlie explained about the bezoar. Emilia listened carefully and Hermione realized that Emilia had complete faith in Charlie. The bezoar was an unusual object, but Emilia did not seem to question it. Charlie had it for her, and she was prepared to use it.

Charlie eventually took the object and shoved it in Emilia's mouth, knowing that Emilia most likely wouldn't do it herself. Hermione could hear a quick gurgle at first and some sounds of disgust, but eventually the bezoar made its way down Emilia's throat and into her stomach.

Emilia's mouth opened and it looked as if she was ready to throw up. Her nose crinkled and she looked towards Charlie, who immediately grabbed a hold of her hand to comfort her during that trying time. Hermione saw the two of them together and began to miss her boyfriend, though she knew it was important to be there. Even so, she would go home as soon as this issue was resolved. She had been away from Ron for long enough.

"Are you okay?" Charlie finally asked Emilia, as Emilia's face returned back to normal. She, luckily, had not thrown up, and the color had returned to her face. She was getting over the bezoar taste.

"I think so," Emilia answered, Hermione noticing Emilia grasping Charlie's hand tightly. She turned away from the two and began to pace the room.

"How are we supposed to know if it worked?" Bill asked, making his presence in the room known. He had been quiet for awhile, but now he seemed concerned. Everyone was concerned.

"Can you see any obvious greenish in her veins?" Hermione asked, while still pacing the room. She kept as far away from Charlie and Hermione as she could.

"No," Charlie said, while turning Emilia's arm over to observe. "Nothing's sticking out to me."

"You might have to do a blood test," Hermione said. "Healer Smethwyck would be helpful with that."

Within moments, Charlie had Healer Smethwyck back in the room, setting out to test the blood. As soon as he started however, he noticed the green mark appearing again.

"I don't think it's worked," he said, showing Charlie.

"Shite!" Charlie exclaimed, as soon as he saw Emilia was still infected. He then looked at Emilia's fearful expression and apologized. "I'm sorry," he said. "We'll still be able to figure this out."

"I think we're going to have to go with Bill's idea," Hermione said, facing the pair. "Blood replacement is the best I can think of." Hermione had heard of exchange transfusions being done in Muggle newborns for jaundice. The blood would be removed slowly and Hermione knew Emilia's blood had to be removed all at once. It would be similar, but more risky since Emilia was an adult.

"I'd like to see my family then," Emilia said, talking only to Charlie and staring directly at him. "I know you're confident that nothing's going to happen and that I'll be fine, but I'd like to see them if that can be arranged."

"Okay," Charlie said. "I ran into Talia on my way over here anyways. I'll have to get the Ministry to approve it, but I can do that. Do you want to see everyone?"

"I consider Talia and my brother my family," Emilia answered. "No one else."

"Good," Charlie said. "Your father didn't seem like the nicest of people."

"You don't want you to meet him," Emilia said, assuring Charlie.

"I'm sorry." Charlie continued to talk softly, while comforting Emilia. It started to grow uncomfortable for Bill and Hermione. Charlie and Emilia obviously just wanted to be alone.

"We should get going," Hermione said. "I… I've got more studying to do. I'll see if I can figure something else out."

"Thanks," Charlie said and watched as the two left. Right before Bill exited, Charlie had another thought. "Wait!" Charlie said. "Can you guys get approval to allow magic to be used in front of Talia and Emilia's brother? I'd like it to be done as soon as possible, so they can be here."

"I'll talk to dad," Bill said.

--

Talia couldn't help it. She had tried resisting several times now, but she began to pace the room, bored with playing the waiting game. Where had Charlie gone? Did he really know what was going on with Emilia? Was he really coming back?

She couldn't help but to think that he wasn't planning on returning. But she also couldn't help but to notice some of the things in his shack. They were sitting there, most of the things out in the open, waiting to be searched through. The best of all was a journal in which most of Charlie's notes were in. Talia knew that Charlie was an animal control officer of some sort, and she was interested to see what kind of notes he took. At least it would give her some more clues as to what was going on.

_5 September 1998_

_Name: Quetzalxochitl_

_Age: 3_

_Sex: Female_

_Breed: Romanian Longhorn_

_Notes: Appears to be fine after confrontation with female competition. May not need health inspection after all. Tail still appears to be damaged, but is able to fly in relative health. Will most likely be fine in a week or less. _

_Name: Ixtli _

_Age: 12_

_Sex: Male_

_Breed: Romanian Longhorn_

_Notes: Closer inspection needed. Unable to fly or to move left wing. Will send Damon Randa to check out. Appears to be in pain. Unknown reason._

_Name: Xoco _

_Age: 4_

_Sex: Female_

_Breed: Romanian Longhorn_

_Notes: Appears fine after confrontation with female competition (winner of confrontation). Still no signs of any damage. _

_General Findings: Regular activities for Romanian Longhorns. One closer health inspection needed. Dragon-_

Dragon! Wait, what? This had to be a joke. There was no way that Charlie was writing about dragons.

She flipped through the other pages of her notes and she searched for any clues to deter her away from it actually being a dragon. Eventually, she found some pictures and she stared in disbelief at the pictures.

There were extremely realistic pictures of creatures that looked like dragons. They actually appeared to be more like dinosaurs or large iguanas, but since the report mentioned dragon, Talia saw dragon in the pictures. They were large things with forest green scales and golden horns that seemed to glitter. The oddest thing about the picture was that it appeared to be moving.

Talia dropped down the picture down to the ground as soon as she realized snorts of steam coming from the dragon's nose. Eventually Talia realized it was just a picture, but she still wasn't quite sure what it was. She picked it up again and placed her right hand over where the steam was. She didn't feel any heat dissipating from the picture luckily. She couldn't figure out what exactly was going on, but she continued to stare, hoping some type of thought would come through to explain everything.


	24. Chapter 24

Charlie continued to hold Emilia's hand, fixed on her expression. She looked relatively calm and reassured for the position she was in. She didn't seem to be worried at all as she held onto Charlie's grasp tightly. Charlie, however, was filled with nerves. What would happen if this didn't work? What would happen if he killed her, or she started to go crazy? It would be all his fault. Why couldn't he have stopped this before? Why couldn't he have known about all this damage before? So much could have been done to prevent this, but no one bothered to tell him anything. That was the greatest tragedy of the situation.

"Other dogs were infected by this thing too," Charlie said, suddenly realizing. His eyes glanced around the room, becoming even more depressed by the situation.

"Yeah," Emilia answered. "I'm pretty sure that dog that attacked me was infected, and there was at least another dog that was infected. I don't know about the dogs that were cured though. The ones we sent home with the owners after you cured them magically."

"Shite," Charlie said. "Those dogs could be home attacking their owners now. This is bad."

"I didn't even think about those dogs," Emilia said. "Do you think they still had the chimaera blood in them after you healed them?"

"I think so," Charlie said. "I don't think what I did was enough to cure them from that. Those were just some basic charms."

"But they were actually cured," Emilia said. "They were sick until you started pointing your wand at them, but they were cured when your magic went through them. Could they have been healed by that?"

"I'm not sure," Charlie said. "I'll have to go visit them to see. I'd love for it to be as simple as that."

At that point, Bill walked victorious into the room to bring some news, likely good from the way he was walking. "Dad said getting Emilia's friends involved has been approved. He was able to provide some quick work to get it done."

"Thank you," Charlie said. "I think I'll go now to get them. I can also visit the homes of those dogs I cured while I'm gone. Can you provide me with some addresses, Emilia?"

"Yeah," Emilia said, as she prepared to write down the homes of Missy and Hund, just two of the dogs Charlie had already healed. Hopefully, he'd be able to find them all good and healed and this whole thing would be over with.

"Can you stay with her while I'm away?" Charlie asked. Emilia would have rather had Charlie stay with her and Bill leave, but she knew it was for the best. Bill would keep her company, while Charlie was away.

"Of course," Bill said, sitting on the seat that Charlie had once occupied.

--

Talia circled around the tiny shack that was Charlie's current place of residency. She didn't know what she was doing or what was going on, but circling around seemed to help her think a bit better. She knew this whole thing had to be a joke. Maybe they were playing a prank on her. Maybe Charlie and Emilia had this whole thing set up to make her look like a fool.

But it wasn't even close to April 1st and her birthday was back in the beginning of September, while it was almost the middle of October now. It couldn't be an April Fool's joke or a surprise birthday, unless it was a delayed surprise.

Talia couldn't even imagine Emilia doing something like this. Emilia was a good friend, but she was involved in her work far too much to even think about surprising her with a birthday party. Talia didn't fault her for that, but it made her realize that Emilia wouldn't be throwing a surprise.

But maybe Charlie would. Maybe Charlie set up the whole thing, but he was there for work, not for games. He was trying to figure out this whole mysterious attack thing; he didn't have time to set up a party, unless he really liked her that much. Maybe that's why Emilia was at Charlie's place at the unearthly hours of the night. If that was the reason, Talia had a huge apology to make. She had a huge apology to make anyways.

Talia settled down a bit, smiling at the fact that this could possible be a joke or a surprise of some sort. There may actually be a guy out there that cared enough about her to surprise her. Charlie didn't know her very well, but he must have really liked her to go through all of the trouble. Finally… someone who cared.

There was a sudden rambling of sounds and a rumbling of the door. Talia had convinced herself that this was a surprise, but she was still nervous. What if it wasn't? What if it was someone trying to break into Charlie's place now? What if he only made her stay there to set her up? Maybe he was a loony or mugger and used girls like Talia to protect himself.

She started to panic, searching around the room for any weapon that she could find. He didn't even have a knife lying around anywhere. There was nothing she could use to protect herself, and by the time the man managed to make his way into the room she had a glass in front of her body.

Charlie saw a frightful Talia with a glass in front of her body as soon as he entered the room, and he couldn't help but to break out in laughter. Talia put the glass down as soon as she realized who it was. "It's not funny!" she said.

"Were you going to throw that at me?" Charlie amusingly asked. "Or were you planning on offering me some poisonous drink? I hate to say it, but I don't think I would've fallen for that one."

"Shut up!" Talia exclaimed. "You scared me. Why didn't you just use your key?"

"I lost it," Charlie said.

"Why didn't you knock?"

"I don't know," Charlie answered. "It was easier to break into the place, and more amusing too."

"I don't agree," Talia said. "Plus, you took forever to get back. Are you going to answer any of my questions now?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, his tone dying down into a depression, rather than the amused tone he was displaying before. "I've talked to her and she wants to see you and her brother."

"Is she okay?" Talia asked, still not sure if this was a surprise or if this was real. She couldn't quite figure out what was going on, and she was going through a roller coaster of emotions. "Where is she?"

"I think it would be easier to explain this all to you two at once," Charlie said. "We're going to have to visit Waylon."

"He lives about an hour away," Talia said, "in London."

"I know," Charlie said. "Emilia gave me the address. I'm going to need you to trust me with the next move we make. It might seem a bit unrealistic, but I'm going to get you there in less time than that."

"It takes me an hour to get there if I speed," Talia said. "I'd like to see you try."

"I won't be driving," Charlie said as he approached Talia closer. "Just take my hand and close your eyes. That'll make it easier."

Talia did her best to trust him, wrapping her arms around his sweaty hand and closing her eyes. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, but she felt a sudden thrust before she opened her eyes again to see herself right outside of Waylon's flat.

"What just happened?" Talia asked, anxiously staring at Charlie, who seemed to be fine.

"I told you I'd explain later," Charlie said. "Let's go meet Emilia's brother."

Talia had difficulty in walking forward, but she figured it had something to do with the surprise. It had to be. Charlie and Emilia were playing some type of elaborate hoax that was making everything seem unrealistic. She would play along, just to amuse her friends. If everything went completely out of hoax, she would say something to stop it all. She didn't want to let it go too far out of hand.

They walked forward easily finding Waylon's flat from the address that Emilia gave. It was a small building near the center of a busy neighborhood in London. It had brown exterior and colonial style windows. It looked like it was quite an expensive place to stay in, and Charlie figured that Waylon was well off.

Charlie knocked on the door with Talia by his side. He started to feel a bit nervous approaching Waylon because Waylon didn't know him at all. Who was he to trust a stranger that his sister needed him? As soon as Waylon opened the door, Charlie wanted to back away. He knew he couldn't do that though because Emilia needed her brother.

Inside the flat, a tall dark-haired man stood with a neutral expression. Charlie couldn't help but notice how similar to Emilia he was. His face showed a bit more age, and he was much taller than the averaged height Emilia, but he could tell they were related.

"Talia Bernard," Waylon said as soon as he noticed Talia. Charlie realized that would make it much easier. At least Waylon knew who Talia was. That would give him more authority.

"Hi Waylon," Talia said, as she reached forward and gave Waylon a quick kiss on the cheek. Talia and Waylon had met a couple of times before, but just briefly. Waylon typically did not stay in Newberry very long, and Talia had never visited him in London.

"This is my friend, Charlie," Talia introduced, as Charlie and Waylon shook hands.

"Nice to meet you," Charlie said as he firmly grasped Waylon's hand. He wanted to make a good impression, not only because he needed to convince Waylon to come to him, but also because Waylon was Emilia's family. He didn't want to screw anything up with Emilia's family.

"Nice to meet you as well," Waylon focused on the two. "Do you want to come in?"

"No, no," Charlie said, delighted by Waylon's courteous manners. He already seemed like a pleasant man. Charlie wasn't as trusting with relying on first impressions anymore, but Waylon did give a good first impression. Charlie immediately liked him.

"What can I do you for?" Waylon asked.

"It's about Emilia," Charlie started to explain. "She needs you and Talia."

"Wait, I know who you are," Waylon came to realize, folding his arms and defending himself in the doorway. "You're that Charlie guy who Emilia said was a prat. What are you doing here?"

Charlie sighed, a bit humoured that Emilia had already spoken to her brother about him, but also annoyed at what this impression would do for him. "I'd say her feelings about me have changed."

"I just spoke to her a couple of nights ago," Waylon said. "I don't think she likes you very much."

"It doesn't matter anyways." Charlie tried to explain the situation better. "Emilia's hurt, and she wants you to see her. Do you know where Purge and Dowse, Ltd is?" Charlie hoped Waylon would know about the Muggle landmark near St. Mungos. He had been there before, but he had only Apparated there before. He'd rather take Muggle transportation this time, so he wouldn't have to go through Apparition with both Talia and Waylon.

"Yeah," Waylon said. "But it's a broken down department store. There's nothing there."

"How far away is it?" Charlie asked.

"Probably just about a ten minute drive."

"Do you have a car?"

"Yeah," Waylon said.

"We're going there now."

--

Emilia tried to stay alert, while she lay in her bed at St. Mungo's hospital. It was difficult for her to keep still, lying in one position for so many hours. She didn't like keeping still for so long. She was always on her feet at work and usually at home as well. She never had time to sleep more than six hours on a lucky night, and she never had time for extra sleep. She liked it that way. She liked to constantly be in action. The time in bed was killing her. Charlie had to be back with her family soon.

Bill continued to keep her company, talking on and on about his family and especially about his wife, Fleur. Emilia appreciated him being there and him talking, but she was starting to grow anxious. She just wanted her sickness to be over with. She couldn't take the mundane hospital life much longer, and she was even beginning to appreciate how tolerant her patients were waiting in the animal hospital.

"We've been going through baby names every day," Bill said as soon as he let out the news that his wife was pregnant. He just found out recently, and he was not hesitant to tell anyone. "Fleur wants to be surprised about the gender. I'd like to know, but I'm not going to push her with that. So far the boy names are looking good. We both like Louis, but Fleur also likes Antoine. I suggested Fred in memory of my brother, but she doesn't like that."

"That'd be nice," Emilia commented.

"Yeah," Bill said. "But she wants a more French sounding name. She has given up a lot to live with me, so I figure I'll let her have the name. That's more of the woman's role anyways. You gals are pickier."

"You're probably right." Emilia agreed. She already had baby names picked out for years. She didn't even know if she'd have children or ever settle down, but she had a list in her head. Weren't most woman like that?

"As for girls, we've been having a debate with that one. We can't agree on anything. Aureline, Dominique, and Therese are her top choices, and I like Lucy and Sophie."

"I like the simple names too," Emilia admitted.

"What would you name your babies?" Bill asked, grinning as he did so.

"I don't know." Emilia quickly lied. "I haven't even thought about it.

"Liar," Bill said. "Come on, I'm sure you've had some thoughts."

"Not enough to come to a decision."

"If you tell me I'll tell you what Charlie'll probably make of the name. I know his taste." Bill continued to grin, trying to pry that information out of Emilia.

Emilia smiled, though didn't give in to his temptation. "I don't know," Emilia said as her mother's name flowed through her head, with the Weasley name attached to the end. It sounded perfect to Emilia, but she hadn't wanted to think that far ahead.

"Fine, fine," Bill withdrew his pushing. "The offer's only valid this one time."

"Emilia!" Emilia suddenly heard a familiar voice, distracting her from Bill's words. That voice immediately uplifted her thoughts as she watched her brother walk in.

"Waylon!" Emilia said, lifting herself up from her bed. She didn't want to look weak in front of Waylon, especially because she wasn't really weak.

"My god, are you okay?" Waylon asked, rushing to his sister's bed. He immediately grabbed her hand as he sat by her side.

"I'm fine," Emilia answered.

"No you're not. You're in the hospital," Waylon said, as Talia and Charlie came by too. Charlie had a rather neutral expression as he watched the interaction of the siblings. Talia stayed closed by, worried and perplexed by the situation. She didn't think this was a surprise party anymore, but she still didn't know what was going on. "And you said you hated Charlie."

"I don't hate him," Emilia automatically answered. "And I'll be fine. Charlie and his friend are working on the cure for me. They'll take care of me. I just wanted to see you two incase it didn't work out. Their first attempt didn't work out."

"What are you talking about?" Waylon asked.

"You might want to sit down," Emilia said as she watched Bill jump up from the seat and offer it to Waylon. Waylon readily complied, while Charlie found a seat for Talia and himself. Bill slipped out of the room, before Emilia started to explain, giving the four some privacy.

"Tell me, Em," Waylon stared deeply into his sister's eyes, trying to read her. He could sometimes, but right now it wasn't working. She was a closed book.

"Charlie's not the most usual person," Emilia said. "He's not exactly human."

"I'm human," Charlie said, offended.

"No you're not," Emilia argued.

"Just because I'm different doesn't mean I'm not human." Charlie defended himself.

"Fine," Emilia accepted. Both Emilia and Charlie briefly laughed, while Talia and Waylon waited anxiously for the explanation. Waylon felt a little more at ease because the two were joking around, but he was still worried they weren't taking the situation entirely seriously. Emilia couldn't be completely alright if she was in the hospital. "Charlie's not exactly a natural human being. Is that better?" Emilia asked, turning towards him.

"A little," Charlie answered.

"Well, go ahead and explain it if you can do better," Emilia said. "You're probably better at this than I am."

"Fine," Charlie said. Both Talia and Waylon shifted their attention to Charlie as Charlie began to explain. "What I am doesn't even really matter. The thing is that I screwed up, and Emilia's here because of me."

Charlie paused before he continued on, but that pause wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do. It gave Waylon enough time to gather his anger, clench his fist, and aim it right into Charlie's nose.

"Ass," Waylon muttered, inching closer towards Charlie, who fell back slightly in his chair during the punch. Waylon wouldn't let anyone hurt Emilia. "What did you do?"

"Waylon!" Emilia cried, reaching her arm out to push Waylon away from Charlie. "Stop it. Let him explain."

She watched as Charlie put both hands up to his nose, rocking his head back and forth in pain. He was evidently bleeding, and Emilia wasn't sure what to do in that position. She was good at comforting dogs, but not people, even people she loved. She was always the one being taken care of. "I probably deserved that," Charlie said, eventually calming himself and blocking away the pain. He grabbed a tissue and held it up to his nose, to stop the bleeding. It was most likely broken, but he could fix it pretty easily in a bit.

"No you didn't," Emilia said. "Are you okay?"

"I'll survive."

"What did this son of a bitch do?" Waylon asked, with added intensity. Talia just sat, still stunned that she was actually there. She didn't know what to make of the situation.

"Nothing," Emilia said. "And it's not really his fault. I know Talia knows about this, but a dog from my work went a little crazy last night. I was called in to deal with it, and I was stupid enough to try to sedate him before Animal Control came. He bit me, and Charlie found me after he bit me. Charlie told me that all of the dogs were infected with a type of blood that made him act crazy like that. The dog bit me, and I'm infected with it too."

"Wait, what?" Waylon was now confused, and Talia was even more perplexed.

"Hermione, Charlie's friend, is trying to figure out what to do to cure it. There's no set cure right now, but they have a couple of ideas."

"How did these dogs get infected?"

"I think you need to explain it all, Charlie," Emilia said, referring to the explanation of magic. She knew it would be difficult for them to understand, but they needed to know. That was the only way they'd understand what happened to her and what was going to happen to her. She needed them to know everything, so they could support her.

"Okay," Charlie said. "I guess Emilia was right about me not being naturally human."

Charlie started to give the explanation of magic, as thoughts circulated through Emilia's head. She hoped that it wouldn't be too difficult for Talia and Waylon to understand and believe it. She hoped they would help her through it all. Looking at their faces, they looked rather calm, but Charlie hadn't gotten to the, 'I'm a wizard' part yet.

Halfway through his sermon, Emilia felt a sharp pain on the tip of her head. She started to squint her eyes as the pain made it through the whole of her head. It started to jabber on, causing her great grief, while Charlie's words finally lost meaning to her. Charlie wasn't paying attention, as she closed her eyes, trying to reconcile the pain.


	25. Chapter 25

Emilia opened her eyes. Then she closed them. The bright lighting of the room did much to intensify the pain that beat away at her head. It felt like a pounding, like almost a heart beat, but a strong one that wouldn't quit and wouldn't give in. She was perfectly fine one minute, and the next she was suffering through the most intense headache that she had ever experienced.

Charlie finished his explanation to Talia and Waylon, finally getting a chance to stare at Emilia for her reaction. Talia and Waylon were not taking the magic explanation well, and he needed her support.

But when he turned to her, her eyes were closed, and her right hand was squeezing her forehead, while her mouth lifted down in a frown. Something was wrong.

"Are you okay, Emilia?"

Waylon noticed Emilia's expression a second after Charlie, and he rushed to hold onto his sister for support. Charlie offered his hand at the same time Waylon did, but Emilia was in too much pain to decide. She kept quiet as both Charlie and Waylon grabbed a hand.

"Headache," Emilia finally muttered.

"I can get Healer Smethwyck. He can give you something to help with the pain." Charlie was concerned, just as much as Waylon was. Waylon didn't completely believe what Charlie was, but he could see that Emilia was in pain. If Charlie could help with that, he would be grateful.

"You should check on the other dogs," Emilia suggested. "Waylon and Talia are here now, and you need to check on the other dogs. The sick ones. Please make sure they're okay." Emilia didn't want the feeling to have to happen to anyone else. It seemed like too much of a coincidence for this headache to be unrelated to what was happening with her.

"I…" Charlie didn't want to leave. He would leave for minutes to get the Healer, but he couldn't leave Emilia for much longer. He had already left her for too long. The dogs could come later. "I can't leave you."

"Please," Emilia said, closing her eyes, breathing softly as her friends worried about her. "I have family now. I just want to make sure those dogs and their owners are okay. I don't want this to happen to them too."

"Okay." Charlie hesitantly agreed. He slowly let go of Emilia's hand, realizing that he wasn't quite family yet. He hadn't even known her for too long and now that her true family was there, she was more inclined for their help than for his help. It displeased him to think of that, but if they were able to help her in a way that he wasn't, that was okay. Whatever was best for her.

Charlie walked through the hallway, finding Hermione first to make sure that Hermione would keep an eye on her. He also told Hermione about the latest happenings, causing Hermione to worry about her condition. Hermione was sure it was related to the chimaera blood. She wanted to start the treatment right away.

Charlie then received instructions from Hermione on how to heal the dogs he was going to visit, before preparing to leave.

"Don't do anything until I come back," Charlie demanded. "I need to be here."

"Hurry," Hermione said. "I'll try not to, but I can't guarantee anything if it's best for Emilia."

Charlie dashed away at that. He wasn't going to waste any time talking to Hermione about the need to be quick. Instead, he just focused on going back to Newberry, where the dogs were.

--

Three dragon keepers surrounded Linnie at three different angles. Dragon manager, Dragos Vasile, floated above Linnie, while Damon Randa prepared to draw the attention of Linnie's baby. Several more keepers stood off to the side, prepared to come to whatever position was needed. Several were carrying clankers, but none wanted to use them.

At Vasile's command, Damon Randa, swooped in near Linnie's baby, trying to get her attention. He had a scent of meat on him, one that should interest the baby, as the baby had not had much sense of any meat yet. The Muggle town they were placed in did not have too much of a food selection.

The baby's full attention was directed towards Damon. He ran off towards Damon as soon as the scent hit his naïve nose. He stumbled along the way, as his awkward legs were still too short. Linnie looked onward with caution as Damon prepared to mount his broom, Damon's heart beating in anticipation. Damon always became nervous before Quidditch matches, but this was something different. A dragon was more dangerous than a Puddlemere United player… at least most of the time. He had to be able to fly quickly enough or he would be killed.

The baby grew close enough to him for him to prepare to take off. He shot off towards the sky and counted the seconds to make sure he was high enough. This couldn't be something that the Muggles noticed.

He could feel the baby dragon's hot breath at his heels as he lifted up. That gave him enough sense to realize that the dragon was following him. He did not want to look back because he knew that would cause him to lose time. All he could do was concentrate on his end task and concentrate on flying quickly enough to make it to Romania without being killed. At least he was in good position so far… junior couldn't fly too much faster, could he?

Damon continued to fly straight towards his home. He paced himself, flying slower and quicker at moments, just to make sure junior was still on his tail. He had to hope that Linnie was on junior's tail as well.

--

"We've got to get going with this," Hermione declared. "She doesn't look well. We have to try it out on her."

"I don't understand what you're going to be doing." Waylon was concerned, holding onto Emilia's hand, while Hermione was like a lion ready to pounce into action. Hermione scared him, and he wasn't sure he could trust her with his sister's life.

"We're going to try to cleanse her blood," Hermione tried to explain again. The naïve man just wasn't getting it. "We have to make sure the chimaera blood is completely gone. We don't want to risk leaving any behind, so we're going to completely replace it. It's like a blood transfusion."

"But it's like a complete transfusion," Waylon said, trying to understand it all. The plan didn't sound exactly safe.

"Exactly," Hermione answered.

"But you can't take away all of her blood without killing her. It can't work." Waylon wouldn't accept it. He wouldn't readily watch his sister die from this procedure that didn't make any sense.

"I told you I can." Hermione grew frustrated. Her explanation wasn't working for him, and he just wouldn't believe about the magic. She didn't have time to explain it all. Emilia was getting worse. Hermione was sure that Emilia didn't have much time left. She had to start the procedure now. "There's a spell that'll keep her alive for at least three minutes after the blood is taken away. That will give us enough time to start to replace the blood. Everything will work out."

"No," Waylon said. "I can't accept this. I can't rely on some bloody magic trick to help cure my sister. You guys are crazy. I'm taking her somewhere else."

"Stop it, Way." Emilia tightly grasped Waylon's hand. She was ready to support him, instead of it being the other way around. She had confidence in Hermione, and she just needed to get that through to Waylon. She had seen enough magic to be sure that it was true. He needed her reassurance to accept it all. "This is real. I know it may be difficult to believe, but it's real and they have a way to help. You need to trust me about that. I've seen it work."

Talia soon stood up, walking over to Emilia and Waylon. She had been seated a little further away from Emilia, but now after listening to the conversation for a bit, she decided to join in. She was much more accepting than Waylon was. "That's what you and Charlie were up to that day." Talia realized. "When I eavesdropped on you two in the HR, I wasn't sure what was going on. That stick… was that his wand?"

"Yes," Emilia said. "I'm sorry I lied about it. He said I couldn't tell."

"No, don't be sorry." Talia leaned on her friend's bed. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm sorry about that whole Charlie thing before. I'm sorry I ever was mad at you. I think I was jealous of your relationship with Charlie."

"Your relationship with Charlie!" Waylon grew angry. "You didn't tell me anything, Em. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Emilia lied. "I mean, I don't really know. It's not important."

"Guys," Hermione interrupted. "We need to get going with this. Healer Smethwyck is on his way. This has to happen."

"Are you sure?" Waylon's face was completely serious as he tried to read his sister. "Do you trust these people completely?"

"Yes," Emilia answered.

"Do you trust them with your life?"

"Yes," Emilia answered right away.

"Then, let's do this."

Healer Smethwyck walked into the room, his wand, his potion ingredients, and his help ready to go.

--

Charlie knocked upon the door of a house in southern Newberry. The house was fairly large, and it looked almost like a small church. It had a heavy door knocker that echoed when Charlie pounded it against the door.

Charlie wasn't exactly sure what he was going to find inside. He was fearful that the dog had attacked his owner and that there would be a blood scene inside. He believed that the dog had been infected by the chimaera blood, and if he had, he would be fierce like Yuri was. He was just hopeful that Hund's owner, a Mr. Michael Carlisle, was able to control Hund before he was hurt. Perhaps Hund was in a crate when the craziness started.

Charlie started to reach for his wand when about three minutes passed without a sound from the house. He was beginning to worry about the scene, though the home did look large. It might take the owner awhile to answer.

Charlie grabbed his wand and kept it in his hand, while still allowing Michael Carlisle time to answer. He didn't want to rush into the house if someone was there and was perfectly fine. That wouldn't help his record, especially in a town like Newberry, where lots of gossip was relatively common.

He continued to wait, intensely moving his legs in anticipation of what was to come. He began to hear a bit of movement from the house, but he wasn't sure if he was just making up that sound of movement because of anticipation. His hearing was pretty terrible, so he couldn't quite trust it. He would just have to wait a little while longer to make sure. Still, he didn't want to wait too long incase something was terribly wrong and because he wanted to get back to see Emilia.

Finally, after about five minutes of waiting, Charlie heard a rattle at the door. Someone was beginning to open it, so Charlie hid his wand, though still kept it out. He would be prepared incase there was something he needed to use it for.

"How can I help you?" A man with new forming gray hair that Charlie guessed to be in his early 40s opened the door. He had a look of neutrality, concerned with the stranger, though not worried. He had heard of a red-headed man who was staying in town and working with the veterinarian. He assumed this was the man.

"Hi, my name's Charlie Weasley, and I've been helping at the animal hospital lately. I just wanted to make sure everything is okay with your dog, Hund."

"Oh, he's fine," said Michael Carlisle. His hazel eyes began to study Charlie, and to try to interpret his actions.

"Would you mind if I took a look at him?" Charlie asked, surprised at his answer. Hund was not supposed to be fine. Hund was supposed to be crazy.

"Is everything okay?" Carlisle asked worriedly.

"Yes," Charlie said. "We're just trying to provide our best service to our clients, and we want to make sure we haven't missed anything."

"Okay," Carlisle said. "Why don't you step inside and I'll call him."

Charlie obliged and walked inside. Inside, he couldn't help but to notice the vastness of the home. It was beautiful with a large staircase leading upstairs, great hallways, and modern paintings on most every wall. There were even beautifully coloured Oriental rugs that aligned the floor.

Carlisle whistled to his dog as soon as Charlie stepped inside. Charlie waited until he was able to view the brindle German Shepherd again.

Hund approached, content and happy, just like he was when Charlie last saw him. His tail was wagging, and an amused expression appeared on his face. He wasn't crazy at all. He was healthy and happy.

Charlie leaned down to observe Hund, giving a showing of what was expected. He didn't know exactly what he was supposed to do, but he pressed his hands along Hund's back and massaged Hund's paws. He opened up Hund's mouth, and he observed Hund's teeth. Hund was fine, but Charlie did have one test that he wanted to make sure to do.

Hermione had given Charlie a needle to test Hund's blood at some point. Carlisle gave Charlie approval to test Hund's blood. Charlie wanted to know if the green slime was apparent.

Right away as Charlie inserted the needle, he could tell there was nothing there. The green blood was usually apparent right away, but nothing was there. It was clean. Hund had not been infected with chimaera blood.

Charlie was stunned, but he couldn't show Carlisle that. He would have to go to at least one more flat to see what ensued there. Maybe Linnie had somehow not attacked Hund enough to become infected. Maybe Hund had some type of resistant against the chimaera blood. At any rate, Charlie was overjoyed that he didn't open up the door to a crime scene. Seeing a healthy dog and a healthy person gave him hope.

Charlie next Apparated to where Missy, the Shepherd mix lived, which was not too far away from where Hund lived. He was a little bit more at ease knocking on Charlotte Burke's door, Missy's owner. The house was much smaller and was cozier. It was not as intimidating as Michael Carlisle's house and Charlie had gone through the steps of examining a dog already. He wasn't as nervous, but he was still anxious about how Missy would be. Hund was probably the exception. It was likely that Missy was sick. Was there a bloodbath inside?

The wait for the Burke manor was not nearly as long as the one for Carlisle's house. A red-headed woman opened the door right away. As soon as she did so, the Shepherd mix that was the first dog that Charlie ever healed, came galloping to the door as well. Everything about Missy's body language told Charlie that she was fine.

"I was just coming to check on Missy," Charlie said, leaning downwards to greet the pooch. He gave her a pat on the head, and he was already satisfied that Missy was perfectly fine. It would have been obvious if she was infected with the chimaera blood. "How is she?"

"She's perfectly fine," Burke said. "Thank you for coming. This is wonderful service."

"Oh, you're quite welcome," Charlie said, already ready to finish the conversation. He didn't need to spend extra time chatting with this woman. "We just wanted to check up on her. Thank you for your time."

"That's it?" Burke asked. "Why don't you come inside and have some tea? You work hard all day long, why don't you take a tiny break?"

There was no way Charlie was going to comply with that. He didn't have the time for tea or small talk. He had to get back to Emilia and he had to figure out what exactly was going on with these dogs. "Thanks for the offer," Charlie said. "But I must be going. It's a busy day today."

"Well thank you for stopping by."

Charlie turned around, found another safe place to hide, and Apparated to the animal hospital.

Charlie didn't want to waste any time, so he ran right into the animal hospital. He did notice that there were very few cars in the parking lot, so at least that would give Charlie some time to see what was going on, without a crowd. He had to be sure of what was going on, and the last of the dogs attacked by the dragon were still sick. Charlie remembered specifically a Beagle that was still sick. Would Seppie be okay?

The door to the hospital was locked, which immediately made Charlie fearful. It was an emergency animal hospital, and it was supposed to be open all night long. Why was it closed?

Charlie banged on the door, hoping to get someone's attention. Luckily, it didn't take long before Dr. Baker came from behind the door and opened it.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked. He followed Baker inside, but he couldn't help notice that she had a fearful expression on her face. She tended to always have a look of excitement, so that immediately worried Charlie.

"We're not exactly sure," Baker explained. "Early this morning I called Reynolds in to help with a dog that had gotten out of control. She came, and she was attacked by that dog. I went to call an ambulance for her and when I came back she disappeared. We don't know what happened to her. Bernard went to look for her as well, and I haven't been able to get in touch with her for awhile. I don't know what's going on. There's something wrong going on in this town. The police have come to take a look."

"What about that dog?" Charlie asked. He was upset that he couldn't tell Baker the truth about what was going on. At least that wouldn't make her so fearful. But he still needed to find out what was going on with those dogs. "What happened to him?"

"Animal control is taking care of the situation," Baker answered. "But the other dog that was hurt in the attack it a bit out of control as well. I don't know what's going on." Baker than had a second to think before she realized something. "Wait, have you found out anything about what's going on? Do you know what could've possibly happened to the dogs?"

Charlie knew he couldn't answer that question honestly, so he said, "I have some suspicions, but I think I need to go for the moment. I left something at my place about this. I'll be back though."

"Oh, alright," Baker said. "I do hope you can help."

Charlie turned towards the exit. He needed to rush out as soon as possible. Even though he had only visited two dogs, it seemed as if the dogs he specifically healed were fine after being attacked by the dragon. The dogs that were not healed, were not fine. Did that mean that a simple healing spell was all that Emilia needed? Charlie wasn't sure, but he'd much rather try that than a full blood replacement.

--

"We have to get going," Healer Smethwick declared. "I can't wait for Charlie."

"He didn't want you to continue on without him," Bill said, frustrated by Smethwick's persistence. "Just wait a little longer. Emilia wants Charlie to be there."

"I don't want to risk it," Smethwick said. "We need to get going with this. We need to try it out."

"Fine," Bill said. "But I'm not going to be the one who tells Charlie that you went ahead without him."

"I'll be the one to tell him that his girlfriend is healed," Smethwick countered, stepping forward to prepare.


	26. Chapter 26

Charlie raced out of the hospital, running as quickly as he could to a safe Apparition point. He noticed several police cars, and he didn't want to risk being seen, so he went even further than usual, and by the time he reached a safe distance, he was out of breath. He didn't want to further delay his arrival to Emilia, so he did not wait to catch his breath before he chose to Apparate.

When he made it to a safe place in London, he took a breath before he continued to find the department store that gave away the location of the hospital. He then began to walk, taking just three steps before he noticed that something was wrong.

He stared down upon his feet and noticed that his right shoe was missing. The shoe must have been left behind in Newberry. Not since the first time he took his Apparition test did he encounter an episode of splinching. Since his shoe was not dramatically important, Charlie decided to continue on without it.

Charlie hurried into the hospital, just going through the motions of his arrival, without paying attention to what he was doing or what was going on around him. He needed to find Hermione to give her the good news. He was relatively sure that they did not go ahead with the procedure without him because of his demands, but he still ran quickly incase they did. Emilia's illness could have set in, and they could have had no choice. He still needed to hurry.

Charlie approached the room in the Dai Llewellyn ward that Emilia was in, and he ran in as he did so. He thought there was a big chance of Hermione being there, though she still could have been out of the room. At any expense, he wanted to see Emilia right away. Emilia deserved to hear the good news as well. That would ease her dramatically. In fact, Charlie probably could heal her as is. He didn't even need to talk to Hermione about it. He could heal her, and all of the ruckus could be over with.

When Charlie walked inside, he noticed the tenseness of the visitors, before he even noticed that Emilia was missing. Bill was sitting down, his face turned towards the ground. Talia was holding onto Waylon, who was staring out of the window, dreamy in expression. Then, Charlie noticed that Emilia was not there.

"Where's Emilia?" Charlie asked. Bill, Talia, and Waylon immediately turned their heads to face Charlie as he asked them. They continued to act tense, even when Charlie was in the room.

"She's in surgery," Talia explained. "The Healer said she couldn't wait. Bill tried to tell her to, but both Hermione and the Healer said they needed to do it right away."

"When was this?" Charlie asked, his heart beating intensely, as he continued on a rush of energy. He was going to figure this out. He was going to help Emilia; to stop her from having to go through with the risky surgery.

"About five minutes ago," Bill explained.

"Where's the surgery room?" Charlie asked, as the adrenaline continued to rush through his system.

Bill shrugged his shoulders, and Charlie didn't even wait to see or hear the response from the other two. They wouldn't know. They had never been to the hospital before.

Charlie jumped out of the room without giving an explanation. He ran through the set of stairs, fiercely aiming towards the front desk. When he arrived, he shouted his command, eventually getting a full set of directions to the surgery station. He pumped onwards, rushing towards wherever Emilia was.

Finally, he arrived to where surgery took place. It was a secluded area and one where only certain people were allowed. There was a set of wand movements that one had to lay out in order to access the door leading into the surgery ward.

Charlie pounded on the door, hoping for a response. He didn't see anyone around him to even ask about accessing the area, but he needed to be allowed in. He had to stop them from the surgery.

After five minutes of no response, Charlie rushed around the room, searching for any person in a hospital uniform. He finally found one down the hallway from the surgery ward.

"I need to get in there," Charlie demanded to an old lady with white hair and freckled skin. "How do I get in there?"

"Family isn't allowed in the surgery ward," the lady simply said, brushing off Charlie's request. She turned away from him and continued to walk rather laboriously ahead.

Charlie briefly watched her pass by, but eventually ran to catch up with her again. "I'm not family," he said. "I need to talk to the Healer."

"You're going to have to wait," she said, continuing with he struggled walk, though growing further and further away from the surgery ward.

"I can't." Charlie began to grow frustrated. This was going no where. "This is important."

"I'm sorry sir." The lady was disinterested, and Charlie could see that he was getting no where with her.

"Thanks," Charlie sarcastically replied. He would need to find someone else to help. This woman was no use.

"You're welcome sir," she replied as Charlie dashed away. "Have a wonderful day."

Charlie grudgingly snorted to himself as he walked to the door to the surgery ward once more. As he did so, he saw the door of the room begin to open, and a bed being rolled out. Hermione was right by her, and Emilia was being pushed through.

Charlie raced down the hallways again, as the old lady politely reminded him to not run in the hallway. Charlie didn't even hear her jumping to Emilia's side, wanting to see what was going on

"What happened?" Charlie asked, grabbing Emilia's hand, trying to decipher how the surgery went. Emilia looked very much alive, but she was not conscious. But what else could he expect? She wasn't going to be parading around the hospital right after surgery.

"I think it went okay," Hermione explained, continuing to wheel the bed back towards the entrance to the Dai Llewellyn ward, where Emilia would stay to recover. "We went through the procedure and she was fine. She should wake up in an hour or so."

"She didn't need to go through all of that," Charlie said and then explained what he found with the dogs he had taken the time to heal.

When he was finished explaining Hermione asked, "All you used were simple healing spells?"

"Well I used a couple of different spells," Charlie explained, telling Hermione the set of three spells he used after_ Episkey_. She was quite intrigued by the explanation.

"If Emilia isn't healed by what we just did, we can try it with her too," Hermione said. "That's quite interesting."

"You're going to go research that now, aren't you?" Charlie asked, beginning to understand a lot more about Hermione's personality. She craved knowledge. It was like an addiction for her.

"Yeah, I think so," Hermione decided.

"Are you supposed to be there for when Emilia wakes up?" Charlie asked, as they finally wheeled Emilia into the correct ward. They continued onward, searching for the correct room.

"No, she should be fine," Hermione said. "She doesn't need me."

"Can you go back to Newberry instead?" Charlie asked. "The dogs there are a bit crazy, and they need to be fixed before anyone else gets harmed. You know the spells now, and you can fix them."

"The last time I went there I acted as a crazy lady," Hermione said.

"But you also established yourself as connected to Emilia. You should be fine."

"Okay," Hermione said. "You know that is a good idea. I can make sure it works."

"When you're there," Charlie tried to speak a bit lower as he prepared to request something unusual, "Can you look behind the hospital for my shoe? I didn't exactly Apparate here completely."

Hermione stared down at Charlie quickly and noticed one shoe missing. She started to laugh. "You know you could have your Apparition license taken away for that."

"Not if no one knows," Charlie said as he smiled charmingly at Hermione.

"Fine, fine," Hermione said.

--

Charlie began to close his eyes, holding on to Emilia's hand. Waylon was sitting down beside him, trying to keep awake as well. They were all tired, nervous, stressed, and impatiently waiting for Emilia to wake up. Hermione said it would take about an hour, but they were already holding steady into the second hour.

Charlie, Waylon, Talia, and Bill were worried until finally Emilia opened her eyes, leaping into the world once again.

"Charlie," Emilia whispered.

"I'm here, love," Charlie said as Waylon winced at those words. Waylon had wanted Emilia to whisper his name as soon as she woke up, but that didn't happen. It seemed as if Emilia was slowly slipping out of his grasp. He was being replaced by another man.

"What happened?" Emilia asked Charlie, acting as if he was the only one in the room.

"You made it through surgery," Charlie said. "We're going to have to take a blood test at some point, but you should be fine." Charlie didn't even want to go into the discussion about the new cure he possibly found. He was sure that would upset Emilia.

"There's nothing wrong with me now?" Emilia was delighted. It was a huge burden that was lifted off her shoulders.

"I don't think so," Charlie said. "Do you want me to test you to be sure?"

"Please," Emilia said, trying to sit up in her bed. Charlie pushed her down, as the two made a silent exchange, Emilia realizing that Charlie wanted her to stay put.

Charlie took an extra needle that he had from testing the dogs. He quickly pricked it into Emilia's vein, knowing that the quicker he put it in the less painful it would be. He was appreciative for being taught how to find veins quickly in his dragon keeper training and fortunately human veins were easier to spot than dragon veins.

Charlie pressed down, taking a sample of Emilia's blood. He could quickly spot to see that there was no green blood anywhere. Emilia was safe, as long as the blood had not spread anywhere else. If Hermione found Charlie's cure to work as well, he would try that on Emilia as well. It didn't hurt to insure extra protection.

"You're all good," Charlie said.

"Thank you," Emilia said. "You're wonderful, Charlie Weasley."

Emilia tried to sit up once again, but Charlie stopped her. "You should rest."

"I'm sick of resting," Emilia said. "I've been hanging around in this bed for hours. I don't need to rest."

"Maybe you should listen to him." It pained Waylon to agree with Charlie. He didn't like the bloke so much, but Charlie did care about Emilia. He knew what was best for her.

"I'm fine," Emilia declared. "Really I am. I think this magic medicine works pretty well. I feel perfectly fine."

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked. Wizard medicine did tend to work quickly, but Charlie was still hesitant. He didn't want to rush anything.

"Of course," Emilia said, finally lifting herself up. Charlie aided her, allowing her to pull on his hand as she sat up. "Now when can I get out of here?"

"Woah… woah… missy," Charlie said. "You're not quite ready yet. Healer Smethwyck still needs to run some more tests, and I want to wait until Hermione gets back."

"Where'd she go?" Emilia asked curiously.

"She's going to heal those dogs at the hospital."

"The dogs are going to go through the same thing that I did?" Emilia asked.

Charlie wasn't sure quite how to respond. The answer was no, in fact, with Charlie's new cure, but Charlie still didn't want to let Emilia know about that. He didn't want her to know that there could've been an easier way. "Well, relatively the same thing," Charlie said.

"I don't want that to happen," Emilia said, trying to get up from the bed. She was prepared to stop it from happening. "It was a risky procedure and I want to be there to make sure it'll be okay. I don't know if the dogs can go through the same thing I went through."

"They'll be fine." Charlie tried to reassure her. "Hermione found a simpler way of doing it anyway, so they'll be okay."

Charlie tried to stop her from standing up, but it wasn't easy. She was soon on her two feet, trying to figure out how to leave. "I don't agree," Emilia said. "It's risky, and I want to be there."

"Hermione's the smartest witch of her age," Charlie tried to defend his position. "She'll help them out fine. You don't need to be there. You just need to wait until Healer Smethwyck can finish all of the tests."

Emilia sighed. "I reckon you're not going to let me leave anyways." Reality hit Emilia. "I don't know how to leave. I don't know how to do you appariting thing or how that works."

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Charlie smirked. "You know I'm only doing this for your own good."

Emilia turned around and jumped back on her bed. "Don't try to make light of this situation. I'm angry with you." Emilia faced away from Charlie and turned towards her brother, who was happy to receive her attention again.

Charlie remained quiet, knowing that he didn't have anything to say to change her mind. He knew that once Hermione came back with a positive response, that anger would go away.

The room remained quiet for several more minutes until a lady tapped on the door of the room, ready to deliver a message. "Is Charlie Weasley here?" she asked.

"Yes," Charlie said, jumping from his seat and meeting the woman at the door.

"Your owl just delivered this," she said.

"Thank you," Charlie said, as he took the letter.

He walked back inside, sat back down, and began to read it.

_Charlie,_

_We have brought back Linnie and her unnamed baby (it is a male) back to the Reserve. I have spoken to my boss, and he would like to send Linnie back to the bank as soon as possible. I am sure that he knows all of what is going on behind the scenes. I cannot help Linnie by myself. I need your help._

_From the Romanian tower,_

_Dragos Vasile _


	27. Chapter 27

"What was that?" Emilia asked, her eyes trying to glance over the letter. She couldn't help herself. She was completely interested in Charlie's world and she wanted to know more.

"Linnie's in trouble," Charlie explained. "I need to help my boss figure out what to do, so she doesn't end up back at the bank."

Both Waylon and Talia had on looks of confusion, but they didn't question anything. Emilia was on top of the conversation, and they would have to ask her about it later.

"After all of that," Emilia said. "After we went through that big relocation, she still might have to go back. Your life doesn't make any sense."

"I agree," Charlie said as he sighed. "That's why I have to go stop it." Charlie started to stand up, ready to leave. "Are you okay?" he asked Emilia.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Emilia said confidently.

"Good. I'm going to get going then. Take care of her, Bill."

"Hold on bro," Bill said, not eager to see Charlie leave yet. Charlie stopped in place, while he waited for Bill to speak. "Do you even have a plan?"

"No," Charlie answered. "But I'll figure it out as I go."

"Why don't you take a bit of time to figure it out now?" Bill asked. "There's no need to jump into it right now. You can settle down here for a bit, and we can figure it out."

"I don't know," Charlie said. "I do best when I just jump into things. My plans don't usually work out anyways."

"Just sit down, Charles." Bill ignored Charlie's words. "We can figure this out together."

Charlie obeyed, taking a seat next to Bill. He crossed his legs and sighed heavily before he said, "Why do you always do that, Bill?"

"Do what?" Bill asked, as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Make me doubt myself."

"I don't make you doubt yourself," Bill explained. "I just help you find yourself. You're not always a good judge of who you are. You've always been like that."

_A red-headed teenager stared at the crumpled up letter. It had been folded and refolded nearly a hundred times, as he read over the words over and over again. He knew them by heart by now, but he still liked to see them written on in._

_Charlie Weasley,_

_Congratulations! We are very pleased to offer you a Seeker spot on the English National Quidditch team. Through your tryout process, we have come to the conclusion that you are a very gifted player, and you would be a very important asset to our team. _

_Shall you accept this position you will begin training during the summer. Be warned that being part of the English National Quidditch team is an honour and it is not an easy position. You will have to work tremendously to stay on the team and to even play. It is not a sure thing that you will even be offered a position after summer training. _

_Please let us know by January 13 if you accept. We look forward to hearing from you, and good luck with the rest of your school year. _

_Sincerely, _

_Andrew M. Fischer_

_English National Quidditch Team Head Coach_

_Charlie dropped the letter to the ground. He was confused. And perplexed. He had never expected to actually receive a letter like this one. He wasn't good enough to play on the English National Quidditch Team. He was nothing special. _

_But he received this letter. It would be incredibly stupid to turn it down. Is that the legacy he wanted to leave behind at Hogwarts? The Weasley boy who could've played Quidditch for his country, but refused the offer?_

_He knew exactly what his mum's thoughts on the subject were. She wanted him to make something with his life. She thought he could do something more than playing the silly game of Quidditch. She was hoping he'd follow a path like his brother._

_His younger brothers danced around in joy as soon as they heard. Fred and George were already sporting their English National Quidditch team gear. Ron and Ginny certainly approved, and Charlie knew his father secretly would have loved for him to play on the team. He just couldn't mention that when his mum was around. _

_Charlie wished he didn't even tell anyone. That would make the pressure a whole lot easier to deal with. He wouldn't feel guilty going either way. _

_Charlie suddenly stood up and grabbed his cloak. It was early that Saturday morning, and Charlie promised to meet his brother Bill in Hogsmeade. Bill had not expressed his opinion yet, and Charlie was not particularly anxious to meet with him. He'd just have one more voice ripping Charlie to shreds on his opinion. Charlie supposed that Bill wouldn't want Charlie to take the Quidditch offer. Bill was much more realistic than his younger brothers._

_Charlie quickly walked to Hogsmeade alone, rubbing his shoulders as the winter air began to set in. He would've preferred to stay in bed with his sheets wrapped around tightly during the day, but unfortunately a Weasley boy could never rest. There were always important things at hand._

"_Wotcher Charlie," came from a familiar voice. Charlie turned around and immediately saw Nymphadora Tonks walking on her way to Hogsmeade as well._

"_Good morning Tonks," Charlie said, a bit curious as to why she was there at that early hour. "We're meeting at noon, right?" Charlie asked._

"_Of course," Tonks said. "I just wanted to get a bit of Christmas shopping done beforehand. I can't shop for my boyfriend when he's there with me. What are you doing here so early?"_

"_I'm meeting with my brother," Charlie said, as the two continued to walk. Charlie winced as he realized that was another thing that he had to do. He had not even begun to shop for Christmas. _

"_It's about the offer, isn't it?" Tonks asked. "You still don't know what to do?"_

"_Bill just wants to meet with me," Charlie answered. "He didn't say what about." Charlie didn't want to elaborate. More talking about the letter wouldn't help. He had already learned that the hard way._

_They finally approached the village, and Charlie turned to head towards the Leaky Cauldron. Tonks went a separate way as they both said their goodbyes. _

_Charlie walked into the Leaky Cauldron, stamping his feet off on the doormat to get rid of the shallow lining of snow that was beginning to form on the ground. Immediately as he opened the door he saw his brother, sporting two warm bottles of Butterbeer. Charlie took a seat next to him, and said, "Thank you," when Bill pushed the Butterbeer his way. _

_Charlie immediately took a sip of the warm drink, warming up from the walk. He wasn't particularly a fan of the winter months, preferring Quidditch playing in the warmer weather or at best when there was just a cool breeze going by. Charlie was always referred to as a baby during the winter, as he just couldn't stand going outside sometimes and when he did all he did was complain._

"_How is life as a seventh year treating you?" Bill asked, making small talk. He wanted to make sure everything with his brother was going along fine. Charlie and Bill had always shared a tight bond because they were the eldest two Weasleys. They were always treated as the more responsible ones, and they were the ones their brothers had to follow. They tended to stick together and talk more seriously to one another._

_Charlie and Bill continued to bicker back and forth, catching up on their time apart. Charlie missed being able to talk to Bill every day and Bill missed their conversation as well. When they were together, they couldn't shut up. _

"_Have you figured out what you're going to do yet?" Bill finally asked in reference to the Quidditch letter._

"_No," Charlie answered. "I can't decide. What are you going to tell me? That was the point of all of this, wasn't it?"  
_

"_I'm not going to tell you anything," Bill said. "All I'm going to say is that it's for you to decide on your own. Think about what you want, not what mum and dad and George and Fred want. Your opinion is what counts. This is your life. Do what you want of it."_

"_I don't know if I'd make it past summer training," Charlie confessed. "I don't think I'm that good."_

"_If you apply yourself, I'm sure you can do it," Bill said. "Don't decline because you think you won't make it. Just think about what you want. Is playing Quidditch what you want to do for the rest of your life?"_

_It didn't take Charlie long to answer, "No." _

"_See, that wasn't too difficult," Bill said. _

"_But what if I don't get accepted into the program in Romania?" Charlie was concerned._

"_Are you even listening to me, Charlie?" Bill asked. "Didn't I say not to decline something because you're worried about not making it? You'll be fine, Charlie. If you apply yourself, I'm sure you'll make it."_

"_You're beginning to sound a lot like mum."_

"_She taught me well," Bill said, gulping down another sip of his Butterbeer._

"You're right," Charlie said, amazed at his brother. He was lucky to have been born after Bill. He didn't think he could be as good of a big brother as Bill was. Heck, his experience at big brothering Percy didn't turn out too well. "So what do I do?"

Charlie had already explained the situation a bit to Bill, while they were waiting for Emilia to wake up. Charlie knew that Bill was concerned as well, and he waited to hear what his big brother had to say. Bill always knew what to do.

"I think you're going to have to let other people know about what's going on," Bill explained.

"You want me to expose what's going on at the dragon reserve?" Charlie asked. He had not thought about that.

"Is this really important to you?" Bill asked.

"Yeah," Charlie answered seriously. He wanted to save Linnie. He was ready for the long battle.

"Then yeah," Bill said. "You're going to have to get some proof about what's going on. You're going to need pictures, and you're probably going to need it soon."

"How do I do that?" Charlie once again turned to his brother for advice.

"Must I do everything for you?" Bill asked as he laughed. "You said that your boss has access to this treatment type place, doesn't he?"

"That's what he said," Charlie said.

"Well, one of you needs to go there to get some proof. Once you get a picture, you should probably write an article to go along with it, and send it in to the Minister or even the Daily Prophet."

"Okay," Charlie said. "I should get going and start talking to Vasile. I hope he'll be okay with this, but even if he isn't I can do it by myself."

"One more thing," Bill said, trying to stop Charlie from running away from Emilia.

"What?"

"You should take Emilia with you."

"I'd mess something up." "It's too dangerous." Both Charlie and Emilia spoke at the same time, giving excuses. Neither of them thought that was a good idea.

"You two are impossible," Bill said. "Getting you together is like pulling teeth. Why not just let it happen? You're fighting against what's only natural."

"But Romania's really no place for Emilia," Charlie said, hating the idea. Bill wasn't going to push him into this one.

"And I'd just slow him down," Emilia said. "Whenever I get involved, I cause too much trouble."

"Don't you want to help out Linnie?" Bill asked.

"Well, yeah," Emilia answered.

"And aren't you worried about Emilia, Charlie?" Bill said.

"Of course," Charlie said.

"Taking Emilia along will solve all of that. Neither of you will have to worry about each other."

"But what good would I do?" Emilia asked. "I don't know anything about magic, and I don't know the first thing about dragons."

"Exactly," Bill said. "Isn't that what helped you save Linnie's baby in the first place?"

"Yeah, but that was just luck."

"Charlie could use a little bit more luck with him."

"Bill might have a point," Charlie said. "I think I have a plan using Emilia."

"But…" Emilia started. "Haven't you realized all of the trouble I've caused trying to help out?"

"You're no trouble at all," Charlie said. "You keep me sane."

"Was that praise out of your mouth, Charlie?" Emilia asked, as a smile began to form.

"Of course," Charlie said. "Let me show you Romania."

"If you insist," Emilia said as the smile fully formed. "But you might want to grab another shoe before you go."

Charlie looked down once again at his feet, and his face turned bright red with embarrassment. Immediately, Bill took off his shoes and handed them to Charlie. Charlie quickly put them on, and took a hold of Emilia's hand to leave for Romania.

"Go save a dragon," Bill said as the two departed.

--

Emilia began to see vast mountains. Vast mountains and huge areas of green lands. The skies were wide open and caused an immediate pleasant atmosphere. There were not tons of people as in London or even parts of Newberry and Emilia immediately felt relaxed. She loved Romania. Even before she saw the dragons or the people, she loved Romania.

"You coming?" Charlie asked her as he began to walk towards his work. He wanted to give Emilia a bit of time to adjust to the new place before he introduced her to everyone. He wanted to let her take in the beauty of the place as well before she could pass any judgment. Though he had declared himself a manly man (one such man that does not readily find comfort or beauty in following the butterflies or picking the flowers), he had to admit that the beauty of Romania helped him figure out that Romania was the correct place to work. After working a long day or even a long night shift, he would take a look out of his window and find himself at ease. Not only was he surrounded by dragons (though the wards kept them far away from the living quarters), but he could stare at the lovely scenery for hours. There was just something about the air in Romania that brought about tranquility.

"Yeah," Emilia said, taking a step forward. "Sorry."

The two walked in silence for less than a kilometer before the town began to show up through the distance. The first thing Emilia noticed was a large thin building that had to have reached up at least a kilometer into the sky. Emilia couldn't even see the ending of it, so it easily could have gone up higher. The building was round and a blinding white color, without any windows even apparent. There was only a sign in front of it that said _Visiting Entrance_.

Emilia followed Charlie into the entrance of the building, only after Charlie said a spell to open the door. Emilia automatically began to feel a bit reserved and nervous about walking into the place. What had she gotten herself into?

Despite that, after Charlie opened the door, she asked, "Wouldn't Muggles be curious about the height of this building and what it's for?"

"Muggles aren't allowed anywhere near here," Charlie began to explain as he led Emilia to the front desk of building. Though Emilia knew it would appear to be large in height, the width looked relatively small on the outside. However, inside the width was deceiving. It took them much longer than Emilia expected to reach the front desk. "The spell I used was just in any case that a Muggle somehow got here, but it's not very likely that would happen. Within several kilometers all around, this place is protected from the Muggle eye. I Apparated us into the parameters that technically is part of the Reserve, so you're able to see it."

Emilia wasn't sure she understood the explanation, but she remained quiet as they approached a tall black man waiting behind the desk.

"Good afternoon Waverley," Charlie said to the man. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm quite well," the Waverley man answered. "And what are you doing entering the visitors entrance today?"

"I have a guest with me today," Charlie said. "This is Emilia Reynolds." Emilia waited for him to announce that she was a Muggle, but she was quite relieved when he didn't say a word. Emilia didn't know much, but she had already figured out that Muggles were looked down upon.

"Nice to meet you Miss Reynolds," Waverley said. Emilia smiled, not sure what to say or do in response. She always seemed to shut down when meeting new people. It was especially difficult now because she didn't know the customs of wizards. "Are you going to show her around today, Mr. Weasley?"

"That is very much my intent," Charlie said.

"Have you gotten approval for that?" Waverley asked.

"Approval?" Charlie asked, not exactly counting that in his plan.

"Has Vasile approved allowing a Muggle in here?" Waverley asked. Emilia was surprised that he immediately believed that she was a Muggle, but she didn't react. Charlie didn't seem to react either.

Charlie had taken visitors to his work before, but they were all wizards. He didn't realize that Muggle visitors needed approval. "Yes, he has," Charlie said, thinking quickly. He assumed that Vasile would accept Emilia.

"I haven't gotten word from him," Waverley said. "I believe you, but as you know for security reasons, I'll have to contact him before we can clear you. If you take a seat over there." Waverley pointed to a set of two chairs, which Emilia swore she didn't see two seconds ago. "I'll be with you in just a moment."

"Thank you," Charlie said, leading Emilia over to the seat. Emilia continued to stay silent, still taking in the sights and sounds of the Romanian reserve and the wizarding practices. She was still intrigued by the whole idea and Charlie was quite the gentleman, opening her up to the new sights of the world.

"How'd he know that I was a Muggle?" Emilia asked as soon as the two sat down.

"There's a Muggle screener when you walk in," Charlie explained. "Again, more protection to keep Muggles away. Since Waverley saw I was with you, he didn't question you."

"Oh," Emilia said, wishing to know more. She was beginning to feel incompetent around Charlie. He knew so much, but it was still fascinating to learn.

Only about a minute passed by when Waverley told Charlie that Vasile had approved. There was no visitor's tag or anything for Emilia to wear, but Waverley told Charlie to meet up with Vasile, as per Vasile's request, some type of key was on the fifth floor, fourth door on the left.

Charlie led Emilia to an elevator that was immediately to the right of the front desk lobby. The two didn't even have to walk eight feet away to reach the elevator. Emilia was just relieved that she knew what the device they stepped onto was. She didn't need an explanation from Charlie. "Wizards use elevators?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, quite pleased that she knew what they were standing in. "You guys have them too?"

"We do," Emilia answered confidently.

That was until Emilia saw Charlie wave his wand, and say, "Fifth floor, fourth door to the left."

The elevator took off, not in an upwards motion or even in a side to side shift. The device seemed to go diagonally, then to the side some, and then finally upwards. "I didn't realize Muggles were capable of a device such as this," Charlie said, as he waited to make it to the door. Immediately he felt badly for his words, realizing he could be offending Emilia by speaking in such a low regard about Muggles.

However, Emilia didn't seem to mind. She let out a small laugh before she said, "Well ours isn't quite as sophisticated as this."

Charlie couldn't imagine what she meant by that. The elevator they were in was currently out of date. There were much quicker ones that Charlie was hoping would replace this one at some point. The reserve was in need of some more funding, as many things were out of date.

After a long minute, the elevator arrived at the destination point. Charlie walked out of the elevator first, leading Emilia through the center. He enjoyed being able to show off his work to her, and he realized that he enjoyed just being around her, no matter where he was. It was nice to have someone with him that was so like him, yet raised in such different conditions. He had never considered that he'd ever find a relationship with a Muggle, but with Emilia it felt right. Though it may have taken some time to prompt it, now that Charlie found that likeness to himself in Emilia, he was fully committed to her. He had never looked at another girl like he looked at Emilia.

"Here we are," Charlie said, opening the door immediately outside of the elevator. When Emilia heard that the door was the fourth to the left, she assumed that they would be walking down a hallway to find the room a little further away, but that was not the case. She was beginning to realize that she should not assume anything when she was around Charlie. Everything was so unpredictable, and she just needed to go with the flow. Going with the flow was completely out of her comfort range, but she was beginning not to care. As long as she had Charlie's support, she was fine.

Emilia walked inside the room which held the key. The room wasn't really a room, but rather a small corner of space that Emilia and Charlie just barely fit in. In that corner of space, the only object that Emilia could see was an object that looked like a rather large watch, sitting on the floor.

Charlie lifted that watch up from the floor, and Emilia watched as he pushed on some knobs on that watch and then held it in his hand, waiting for something.

"What is that?" Emilia asking, knowing that would prompt Charlie into another fascinating explanation.

"This is called a Timekey," Charlie began. "It allows us to travel to different places in the reserve, without having to use Apparition or brooms or any other device. It makes it easy to travel to different places just around the reserve. Each room here has a different destination, and you probably missed it, but outside the door has the explanation to where each Timekey goes. It's actually quite a new device and because of that only one can be used at one time. It looks like we have to wait about two minutes until it takes us to Vasile's office. You're going to have to hold onto either it or me when it's time to transport."

Charlie then showed Emilia the timer on the watch that was currently at 1.46 and constantly counting down.

"These were all donated by the maker a couple of months ago. Most of our technology is old, but the maker of the device used to work at the reserve and decided to allow us to test it out first, knowing that it would be helpful to get from place to place, and it has been extremely useful so far. We used to only rely on the technology that this was based on, Portkeys, which have to be enchanted each time before use at both locations and has to be set to a certain time. This allows more flexibility."

"Hey I'd take a Portkey as opposed to a car any day," Emilia said. "If only Muggle technology could compete with wizarding technology." Emilia felt like her species of human was sub par when compared to the wizarding kind.

"Muggle technology is safe," Charlie said. "Wizarding technology isn't as safe because there's an endless possibility to what we can do. Our technology and our ways almost killed everyone. As much as I'm dependent on the wizarding ways, I almost wish that the whole world could live the Muggle life. It would be so much simpler."

Emilia couldn't imagine that. She had been intrigued by the wizarding world, and she knew she still didn't grasp the full concept of what it all involved. Even so, she couldn't agree with Charlie. "The world's not a perfect place," Emilia said. "No matter what world you live in, there's going to be destruction. Muggles have guns and bombs and assassins. It's not much more pleasant."

"But Muggles still can't destroy people with the flick of a wand," Charlie said. "I'm not trying to be mean, but there's still not a lot you understand about it. The war we went through was terrible and really could have meant destruction to everyone but Voldemort's followers. If one person has the potential to have all of that power, I can't comprehend it being worth it."

"There's a lot you don't know about my world either," Emilia tried to explain. They weren't exactly getting each other. There still was such disconnect between the two because they had so many different experiences. Could a Muggle and a wizard really share live together with so many differences? Emilia wasn't entirely sure.

"Well, you'll just have to teach me then," Charlie said, lightening up the conversation. "Anyways, it looks like it's time to go. Why don't you grab a hold of my hand?"

Emilia complied, grasping Charlie's left hand with her right one. She held on tightly, afraid of what actually was going to happen. She didn't notice the grin on Charlie's face, as he realized how Emilia turned to him to protect her, just to use the Timekey. It was endearing that such a woman could hold so much trust in him, a simple dragon keeper.

Emilia felt a tightening sensation, followed by a sudden pop and a fall. She had traveled in unusual wizarding ways before such as Apparition, but she much preferred Apparition to the sensation this Timekey gave. She felt sick as she fell outside on the floor of Dragos Vasile's office. That was until she realized that she pulled Charlie onto the floor with her as well.

Dragos Vasile was pacing around his room, anxious for Charlie's arrival when he heard the sudden pop of the Timekey. He opened his door to see an attractive curly-haired woman on the floor with the stubborn Charlie Weasley on top of her. Their bodies flowed together like a perfect painting, and Dragos was surprised at the movement when Charlie pulled apart, embarrassment evident on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Vasile," Charlie said, extended his hand out to help Emilia up, just moments after he stood up himself.

"Hi Weasley," Dragos said, laughing at the scene. "We need to talk."


	28. Chapter 28

Charlie stood up fully, brushed off his shirt, and stared at his boss. "To your office?" he asked, knowing that conversation wouldn't go well in the hallway. He didn't want anyone to happen to hear what they were talking about.

The three quickly made their way to Vasile's office, which was only a few meters away from where the two landed.

Inside, Vasile took a seat at his large oak desk, while Emilia and Charlie sat down on two folding chairs that were laid out in front of the desk. Vasile had summoned the chairs as soon as he heard that the two were coming.

"What's going on?" Vasile asked, wanting to know exactly why Charlie brought a Muggle into the operations. Charlie hadn't explained too much about Emilia, other than her being injured at one point because of the dragon. He wasn't exactly sure what Charlie's implications were for involving her and taking her on this journey to Romania.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Charlie said. It sounded as Vasile was ready to talk, but instead he wanted to know more about Emilia. He wanted to hear thoughts on the dragon situation first.

"Jeffrey James wants to speak to you," Vasile explained.

Jeffrey James, though a tiny bespectacled man of 5'3" who was half bald, had wrinkles lining up everywhere against his face, and had long, thin lips that made him look as if he was irritated every time he smiled, was one of the most influential men at the reserve. He was Vasile's boss's boss's boss, and Charlie figured he had a whole lot to do with what was happening to the dragons. Charlie had rarely spoken to him or even seen him, and quite frankly Charlie was intimidated, maybe even frightened by the man. Jeffrey James was a man that knew what he wanted and would do whatever he could to get what he wanted. Jeffrey James was the man that Charlie had to expose.

"W-why?" Charlie mumbled. He was dead set on exposing the company seconds ago, yet now when he was beginning to understand more of what it would involve, he wasn't sure if he could pull it off. If he was afraid of talking to Jeffrey James, how could he ever do what he needed to do to save Linnie?

"He's upset," Vasile said. "He never wanted Linnie to come back here. He wanted her to go right back to the bank. I've already taken some of the crap from him, but I think he wants to fire you."

Those words actually calmed Charlie down a bit. If James wanted to fire him than the pressure was taken off of him a bit. If his job was already gone, whatever he was planning on doing wasn't going to be risking anything. Well, maybe he could possibly be sent to Azkaban or killed, but Charlie doubted that would happen. Being fired was the most he expected, and hadn't he already risked that? All he had to do now was avoid James until he could get evidence of the harm being done.

"When does he want me to see him?" Charlie asked.

"Now," Vasile answered. "And he knows you're here. He heard that you were coming in with a Muggle to see me, and he told me to send you to him right away. You need to talk to him."

"You're going to have to cover for me," Charlie said. "I have a plan, and Emilia's going to help out."

"What's she going to do?" Dragos asked, appreciative that Charlie was ready to explain why the Muggle was there.

"She's my tourist," Charlie explained. "She's the reason I'm here. You approved some time off for me, so that I could show Emilia around. We're going to go to that cave. We're going to find that facility…"

"Would you mind taking a quick trip to your flat?" Vasile interrupted. "I think you said you had something for me there."

"What?" Charlie asked. He wasn't exactly sure what Vasile's plan was.

"That thing," Vasile said. "You left it at your flat. I'd like to see it now."

"Okay," Charlie answered, though still unaware of what Vasile was talking about. "The Timekey to my flat is right down the hall," Charlie said. "We can go now."

The three walked along the hallway for only about a minute before they reached the Timekey. Charlie picked it up, pressed the button indicating that he was ready, and since no one else was traveling at that moment, the three immediately were placed in front of Charlie's flat.

Walking to the door, Charlie approached with confidence, trying to assure himself that he could risk this all. He had been a Gryffindor and courage always strongly suited him, but he had been settled in his position. However much he wanted Linnie to be saved, he would be exposing his own company. This would be a big deal… as Bill cautioned him. There would be press, there would be Ministry inspections, and there would be reorganization of the company. But what if what Charlie did caused more harm? What if exposing this research inside the dragon reservation would cause enough damage to shut down the whole reserve?

Charlie took a deep breath as he opened up the door to his flat, at least making sure to hold that confidence on the outside. If he was to get Vasile's help and even Emilia's help, he had to appear that he was confident and fully invested in his idea, even if that meant faking it in a way.

Charlie didn't even glance around at the dirty state he left his flat in. He never had much time to clean and he didn't even want to take inventory of what Vasile and Emilia would be seeing. At least Vasile wouldn't be his boss for very long, but his relationship with Emilia would hopefully continue for a bit. He was embarrassed for her to see the state of things.

Charlie pointed to the couch for the two to sit. Without glancing too much around the room and just looking at necessities, Charlie was already displeased at the state he had left his place in. The hand-me-down couch that Charlie had taken from the Burrow was not only ripped and laden with Butterbeer and stronger Firewhiskey stains, but it also held the last pair of pyjamas Charlie had worn in his flat.

He suddenly remembered that the last time he had slept there, he had fallen asleep on the couch. Quite frequently lately he had passed out on the couch after working long hours. It seemed as if in Newberry he had actually gotten a much more favourable amount of sleep. He often slept for seven hours at one time, which he rarely ever did in Romania.

Charlie grabbed a hold of his pyjamas and threw them behind the couch, away from Emilia's eyes. The couch was stacked against the wall with only a small amount of room in between, so at least the pyjamas were out of sight for now.

Vasile and Emilia sat down on the couch, while Charlie stayed standing up, beginning to pace back and forth across the room. He was surprised that he hadn't yet burned a hole through his living room floor from the tons of times he paced.

"They monitor our conversations at the office." Vasile was the one to break the silence.

Charlie stopped in pace as soon as he heard that and said, "Oh."

"So you want to go find that research facility?" Vasile asked, trying to figure out Charlie's plans exactly. To be honest, he was skeptical of the whole situation. He was afraid that he made the wrong decision in confiding in Charlie about the operations. What could Charlie do about it? What could Vasile do about it that he hadn't already done in the years working as a boss?

"Yes," Charlie answered. "I can take Emilia with me to that cave," Charlie began to explain. "I can hide myself and figure out where to go. I'll have a camera with me, which again won't be too suspicious because of Emilia, and I'll get proof of what's going on. I'll send that proof to the Daily Prophet or the Minister… maybe even both places. I'm going to expose these guys. It isn't fair what they're doing."

As Charlie spoke, he realized the passion he had for this beginning to form, and he began to feel just as confident on the inside as he showed on the outside. He could do this. It was going to work and whatever he would do wouldn't make it worse. Because how worse could it get than experimenting on the beautiful dragons he worked with every day? That was worth it all.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Vasile asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said. "But I can do it to leave you out of it. If it doesn't work no one needs to know that you're involved."

"I'm going to do my best to help you succeed," Vasile decided. "I've always wanted to stop these guys, and I'll help in any way possible. Just let me know what you need."

"I think all I need is a camera," Charlie said.

"I've got one," Vasile said. "I can bring that right to you, and I can do my darndest not to let James find you."

"Thank you," Charlie said.

--

Emilia's stomach felt like a squishy mess. Each step she took her stomach rolled and made a gurgling sound. She hoped that Charlie would not notice, but she realized on the way to the Tatich cave that he could hear it. A little laugh erupted from him each time her stomach made that noise.

"You okay?" Charlie finally asked, as the gray camera that Dragos Vasile had lent Charlie dangled around his neck. Emilia was fascinated by the type of pictures it could take at first, but by now she realized it was a typical magical device. She wasn't surprised by too much anymore. Though Charlie did say this camera was extra special. This camera uploaded the pictures to a device that Vasile could see automatically. In case something happened, Vasile would at least have the proof because he would have the pictures right away.

"Yeah, sorry," Emilia said, grateful that at least her stomach was empty. Whenever she became nervous, she acted like this. No matter what it was, her stomach liked to play games with her. Charlie was the first person to actually notice it.

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked, as they approached the cave.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Emilia said, ready to enter the cave. She was thrilled at being able to look inside the Romanian cave. She knew she wouldn't have too much time to examine it or get lost in its beauty, but she would be able to at least walk through it. How many people could say they did that?

"Okay," Charlie said, grabbing a hold of Emilia's hand before they entered. "Just follow me through here. If anyone sees us, we're here visiting, okay?" Emilia nodded her head. "Just act natural."

That was easy enough for Charlie to say, but Emilia wasn't quite sure she could manage it. She wasn't a great actress in the first place, and she also was a Muggle. How could she act natural when she was a Muggle in a wizard's world?

Luckily, the Tatich cave was free from any dragon at the moment. The whole walk to the cave was free from dragons and Emilia began to wonder if dragons actually existed here. She was at a dragon reserve, yet she had not seen one yet. There was more evidence of dragons in Newberry.

Emilia walked along a small, rocky path, led by Charlie, into the cave. She heard her feet squeak along the slippery path, and she began to feel herself stepping on the bottom of the black cloak Charlie lent her. Charlie explained to her that she needed to wear the cloak to blend in, but she still felt awkward, especially wearing Charlie's cloak. He was several inches taller than her and now she was ruining the bottom of the cloak, getting it wet and smudging water on it. She would have to buy him a new one when this was all over with.

They continued to walk along the thin pathway. Even though it was fairly light outside, the further they walked the less light they had. Eventually, Charlie said something and his wand had a point on it that lit up like a flashlight. Another useful trick of magic.

Emilia barely looked at the crystal-like roof of the cave, just trying her best to concentrate on keeping two feet on the ground. As they dived deeper into the cave not only did the light begin to dim, but the ground became even rockier and less steady. Charlie had to reach for her twice to stop her from falling down.

Finally, after several maneuvers and maze-like proceedings, Charlie and Emilia found the door to the facility that Vasile told Charlie was the experimental place. Charlie was the one that was prepared to go for the proof, while Emilia was there for proof. Charlie waited for the last moment to tell Emilia his exact plan.

"You have to promise me something," Charlie whispered to Emilia, before opening the door to the experimentation building. "You have to promise to keep hidden while I'm gathering proof, and you have to promise to take this Timekey and press down on the button if I tell you to, even if that means leaving me. I'm going to do my best to leave with you, but if I can't, I'm going to expect you to leave me and go back to write the article about this place."

"Charlie…" Emilia said, not expecting this, and not accepting the Timekey Charlie presented to her. She thought she was going to be with Charlie throughout the whole operation, and she was nervous enough about that. Now he was going to abandon her and expect her leave him if something happened. "I can't leave you."

"You have to," Charlie said. "You have to promise me that or this isn't worth it. I can't go into this knowing that I could hurt you. You have to leave if I tell you to."

"I promise," Emilia muttered, not really believing her words. She gathered that Charlie didn't either, but that had to be enough for him. He prepared the camera, opened the door, and walked inside, pointing to a dark space in the corner, where Emilia could stay hidden.

Charlie realized that there wasn't much security as soon as he entered the experimentation building. There was no alarm that went off, no security blocking the doors, and nobody that really noticed him right away.

He decided to keep walking, slowly and stealthier, congregating to what he figured was the main area of the building. The entrance did not show any of the experimentation, it almost seemed like an exit, rather than an entrance.

But as Charlie continued to walk, he realized that it was more like what he imagined. It actually far succeeded his expectations, walking into the main experimentation arena. There were at least twenty wizards gathered around working. Charlie made sure that they did not notice him, as he took a position next to one of the cages that held the dragons.

Charlie felt sick as soon as he realized what actually was going on. Vasile really had spared him from the most brutal of details. Vasile had told him that only three dragons were held at a time, but that three was just the number of dragons held in cages that were much too small for even the smallest breeds. There were sedated dragons on just about every experimentation table and there were several rows of tables, along with bookcases full of syringes, medical documents, potion materials, cauldrons, and phials.

Charlie noticed that the main focus was on a Romanian Longhorn, and it looked as if the dragon healers were removing its shiny golden horn. Charlie knew that wasn't even for experimentation; money could be made for that valuable potions ingredient. But how could Charlie miss an important detail such as that one? How could he not see a dragon fluttering about, missing his horn? How could this be hidden so well?

Charlie didn't want to think about the answer too much. He just knew that he needed to get going with recording this. It wouldn't do anything for him to observe, if he didn't get any proof.

He grabbed the camera and made sure that it was set on a setting that did not take a flash. He reached out and pointed the camera in the direction, getting just one picture off before he was confronted by the man he had been trying to avoid; Jeffrey James.

"M-m-mr. J-james," Charlie muttered, jumping up at the man's sudden appearance. Realistically, Charlie didn't expect to be able to get proof without being caught, but he had expected to get a little bit more proof before getting caught. "Hello, sir."

"I see you've found the Romanian Research Facility," James said as a matter-of-factly. "What do you think?"

Charlie wasn't quite sure how to react, intimidated by the small man, who was as tall as Charlie's shoulders when they were both standing up straight. Charlie had never spoken to James before, and the height of the man gave him a bit more confidence, even if he knew the power that he held. "I don't think I like it very much."

"Well, that's too bad," James announced, "because it's my pride and joy. I ask myself every day why I still work here and the only reason I can come up with is because of this place and all of the work that I've done to make this dream come true."

"It's torture," Charlie said, more confident with himself. He wasn't going to sink down to James's level. He was going to do his best to intimidate James, the most intimidating man at the reserve. He was going to fight for the dragons. If he didn't, who would?

"It's not torture," James said. "Not experimenting on them is torture. Would you rather humans be experimented on?"

"Well, what about that one?" Charlie asked, pointing to the Romanian Longhorn in front of them. "There's surely no reason to experiment with taking a horn off. How many people do you know have horns?"

Charlie then observed the men working on the Romanian Longhorn, say a spell, and there was a new horn on the dragon. The new horn wasn't really a real horn though, just a branch of some sort, carved out and turned into a golden color. If anyone observed closely or even looked for it, they would have noticed that the horn was not natural, but for someone not looking at all of the fine print, they would have never noticed. Who would expect a fake horn?

"Oh, quite a few more than you'd expect," James said with a smirk.

Charlie could see right through that lie, and he was furious. "Just shut up," Charlie said. "I don't want to hear any of your crap. You don't deserve to be within a hundred kilometers of a dragon. You're a worthless piece of shite if you think this isn't torture. Do you know that dragons experience pain at ten times the intensity that humans do? Or were you asleep that day in class?

"Do you know that dragons connect touch with hearing? That if they hear something while they're in pain, even just the sound of a flicker of music, they can be subconsciously conditioned to associate that noise in the future to a painful experience."

"Actually, I did know that one," James mentioned. "Who do you think taught the goblins to train that Hungarian Horntail how to fear Clankers?"

"Fuck you!" Charlie yelled, bringing his wand in front of him, ready to Crucio the hell out of the guy.

Unfortunately James had more men on the side and he made motion of his wand first, _"Levicorpus!"_

Emilia watched as Charlie was lifted up into the air and was turned upside down. He didn't appear to be in pain, but it was enough for Emilia to gasp, and shout, "Charlie!"

Charlie had forgotten about Emilia for just a brief second in time, and he now turned his attention to her, knowing that this was going to be a fight that she shouldn't see and that she wasn't safe. "Now!" Charlie yelled. "Press the button now!"

"No," Emilia yelled, beginning to rush into the scene, with the Timekey in her hand, though with no intent of actually using it. She didn't want to leave without Charlie.

"And who is this?" James began to smile at Emilia's appearance. He heard the silent alarm when the two came in and knew that a Muggle was amongst them, but he hadn't seen her yet. Now that she came into view, he realized that she and Charlie were somehow involved. This was going to be better than he expected.

"Go now," Charlie begged. "Please, Emilia. You need to go to help me out of this. There's no sense in watching this."

"But…" Emilia didn't know exactly where she was going with her words. She knew Charlie was being realistic, but she didn't want to leave him. She couldn't. She would regret leaving him, having the image of his frightened face in her head forever. What would happen to him if she left him? She was going to have to do something to stop him from being hurt.

"No, go now," Charlie said, as James began to point his wand at Emilia. Charlie's heart raced wildly as he was dangling in the air, helplessly. He didn't care how he was, all he wanted was for Emilia to be okay. He couldn't live with it if he hurt her. He had already risked her life once, now he was harming it again. She had to listen to him. "If you love me, you need to press that button."

Emilia looked between James, who was preparing to twist his wand at her, and Charlie, who was pleading with her with his sorrowful blue eyes. She knew she didn't have enough time flee from James to save Charlie, no matter how quickly she ran. And she didn't want to ruin things again, like the last two times, where Charlie had to save her life. This time she was going to save his life. This time she wasn't going to be the one needing rescuing. She pressed down on the button on the Timekey and prayed that no one else was using the Timekey at that moment.


	29. Chapter 29

Emilia paced frantically in Charlie's flat – the place that she had called home for the past several days. She chewed on her nails, realizing that just because magic made basic tasks go by quicker, didn't mean that time went by any faster. She couldn't believe how much she missed Charlie… and he had only been away from her for two days and twenty-some hours. She couldn't imagine what was happening to him. Vasile had explained to her that James was not a pleasant guy, and she had already established that by her brief encounter with him. But being not a pleasant guy… did that mean torture? Did it mean killing? Or something else? Emilia was not sure, and she was too afraid to even ask.

Emilia felt an emptiness inside of her. Something was missing and Emilia was sure it was Charlie. She had tried to fill that emptiness before by getting Bill to bring over Taffy, on the most protective measures (incase a dragon smelled the dog), but Taffy barely filled that emptiness. Emilia had known the man for what… less than a month, and she missed him. That had to mean something. That had to mean that at least her feelings about him were real. And because of that, she fought with every emotion that she could to save Charlie. She wouldn't let her weaknesses get in the way of prying Charlie out of danger… if he was even still alive.

"Calm down," Vasile motioned to Emilia. Vasile had been a lifesaver for the past couple of days. He had been there just as much as she had, fighting for Charlie. The two spent every minute together, pushing for answers, and they were coming close. But James was pushing as well.

The funny thing to Emilia was that James was doing everything to find the two, but he couldn't find them, even though they were hidden in James's own backyard. Hermione helped them set up something that shielded them. Somehow this shield protected them from being spotted, even though Emilia could look outside of Charlie's window… even walk a couple of feet outside, and there was the reserve, but James couldn't see them.

Emilia had gotten word that James was interviewing everyone who knew Charlie and searching through all of their flats. Vasile couldn't go back to his own flat or even his office because that had been searched. Charlie's flat was hidden, so James couldn't search through that, but that brought some suspicion. Hermione even told Emilia the flaw of the plan as soon as that was figured out.

But that didn't matter much anymore, Emilia realized, trying to do as Vasile had told her to and calm down. The Daily Prophet was supposed to be out any minute and Emilia hoped that would end all of their problems. It had to. If it didn't she wasn't sure what else she could do.

Somehow, an owl found their home, even under the protection of the shield that Hermione had set up. It was a beautiful creature, Emilia noticed, as she spread her wings out wide and a brown and white pattern appeared on the underside of her wings. Emilia had come to enjoy being able to see so many owls. That was a creature that she had never suspected that she would ever work with, but owls were gorgeous. They were supposed to not be so intelligent, but that wasn't completely true of the owls she had seen lately.

"It's here," Vasile whispered, knowing that he had stated the obvious, but still wanting to press the point. The owl approached Vasile, probably sensing that he was a wizard, compared to Emilia's Muggle status. Vasile grabbed the newspaper, instantly shooing the creature away as soon as she was no longer needed.

He opened up the newspaper at first, thinking that the article would be hidden, but searching frantically, wondering where it could be. As Vasile began to search, Taffy gave out a loud bark, while the owl fluttered into Vasile's face. "Stop it," Vasile moaned, pushing the bird away.

Emilia kept focused on Vasile most of the time, but Taffy's sudden bark concerned her, so she focused on her dog for a moment. At that moment, Taffy jumped onto the kitchen table and knocked a box onto the ground. The box emptied partially, as the owl flew out of the way to examine what had happened. "Good girl, Taffy," Emilia said as soon as she realized what Taffy had done. Vasile had neglected to give the owl some treats, so Taffy did it herself.

"I don't know Reynolds," Vasile said, gaining Emilia's focus again. "I don't see anything here."

Emilia jumped up at the point, as the newspaper was spread wide open. All the Emilia could see at that point was the front page and that's all that she needed. Instantly, she recognized the picture that Charlie had taken of the Romanian Horntail, its golden horn being removed at the time. Not only was Charlie able to capture the Horntail in that picture, but he was also able to get a glance at the other dragons positioned on the examination tables. In the frame that Charlie had captured, one could see three other examination tables besides the one which held the Horntail. It was enough to give anyone chills.

"Front page," Emilia shouted, causing Vasile to instantly drop the paper to the ground. When he picked it up, he neatly folded the paper, only to reveal the front page.

_Shocking Treatment at Romanian Dragon Reserve_

_Editorial by: Emilia Reynolds_

_I may not be a witch. I may not know much at all about magic. I may not know much at all, but I know when a creature is in pain. I know when an animal looks you in the eyes and wants you to know that they are hurt and they desperately seek your help. I may not be a Seer, but I have a pretty steady record at interpreting animal's feelings, and I barely had to take five steps into the secret Romanian Experimentation Lab to know that those animals were hurt. _

_In the Romanian Dragon Reserve, dragons of all shapes and sizes and colors are allowed to roam around and enjoy themselves under the Romanian sun. Dragon keepers and dragon healers protect them, observing them and making sure they are healthy and content. Managers and supervisors keep track of the staff, making sure their jobs are done, but that's not only what they do. They also are in charge of a secret establishment, an experimentation center underneath one of the many Romanian caves: Tatich._

_When you walk into the Tatich cave, it is just like any other ordinary cave. It is a beautiful site, crystal-like walls gliding over open spaces and vast hideaways for dragons. But when you delve deeper into the cave, you find the Romanian Experimentation Lab, just beyond the grasp of the walls._

_I was not able to spend too much time at the cave. I'm lucky that I even made it out of the cave alive because of what I saw. Dragon keeper, Charlie Weasley, was not as lucky as I was, and he is still captured by head, Jeffrey James. _

_What I did see at the Romanian Experimentation Lab was torture. I knew it was not natural to cut off a dragon's horn. Though sedated, I am sure that Romanian Longhorn pictured above will not wake up happy. I could see it from the faces of the other dragons, three in cages too small to hold medium sized dogs, along with at least five other dragons on experimentation tables. I, a Muggle, could see that was unnatural._

_Learning about the magical world opened up a whole new scene to me and at first I was intrigued by this world. After seeing this treatment, along with how Linnie, a dragon experimented on just to guard your wizarding bank, has been treated. Linnie is scheduled to go back to Gringotts tomorrow, leaving her newborn baby behind. Linnie is trained to fear Clankers, a horrible trick that is painful and unnatural. How many people know that dragons feel pain in ten times the intensity that humans do? If that is so, why should they be treated any lesser than we treat our own kind? _

_I know being a Muggle, I do not have the authority to say that I know what is best for these dragons, but I do know what pain looks like, and I know what the laws of the Muggle world are. I believe in this case the Muggle world knows best. This is wrong._

_Written with help by dragon manager: Dragos Vasile_

"That looks pretty good," Vasile said as soon as they both finished reading the article.

"What do we do now?" Emilia asked, still anxious about what to do. She wanted Charlie to be rescued already. She wanted to hold him in her arms, but most of all she wanted him to be safe.

"Now we wait," Vasile said, taking a seat on Charlie's couch, slouching backwards and doing his best to calm down and wait for word on what to do.

Luckily, Emilia's nerves were spared quite a bit because only a little bit of waiting was necessary. Emilia had taken a seat next to Vasile on the brown couch of Charlie's flat, biting away at the last fingernail on her right hand, when there was a knock on the door.

Emilia jumped up at the sound, thinking that it was only Bill, but knowing that any visitor was good for bringing news. Maybe some type of action had been taken already in the dragon fight and more importantly the fight to get Charlie back home safely.

Emilia approached the door, rushing over to open it. Before she did, she heard a bit of noise coming from the outside, and she tried to listen.

"Why am I knocking on my own door?" His stubborn voice was difficult to interpret from the outside, but Emilia knew enough of it to interpret.

"Just calm yourself." That was Bill.

Emilia could imagine him sighing, and portraying a face of pain and annoyance, squinting his eyebrows and curling his lip, but she wouldn't be able to see that face from inside. Instead, she pulled the door open, displaced a gigantic smile upon her face, and ran outside to hug him, just as soon as she distinguished that it was in fact Charlie.

It took a long moment for Emilia to be able to pull apart from Charlie. She felt herself brush against his toned stomach again, and she felt warm and complete in his grasp. The hug started out with her being in control, rushing to comfort Charlie, but eventually Charlie took over, holding her more dearly and more steadily as Emilia's body fell right into place under his protection.

That was what he had been waiting for. That is what he fought for in the days of torture under James's hand. Her soft rhythmic heart beat brought him back to the real world, and when they finally broke apart, he noticed three single tears begin to trickle down his face. He, Charlie Weasley, was crying tears of joy just to be home and just to see the woman he was… yes… in love with.

"My god," Emilia said, Charlie imagining her to get the first real glance at him. He knew that his face was a mess, but he didn't even know how bad it was. He was sure his nose was broken, but Hermione tried to mend that one right away. There were most definitely still traces of blood all around his face, and his right eye was badly bruised; he could barely see from it, so he was sure it was not so pretty. And as he began walking, he showed off his limp, one that would heal with time, but could not be fixed on the spot. When Hermione joined the group of rescuers, she did her best to heal him, but it would take some potions and some more work for him to be completely fixed. He did not want to go to St. Mungos to get that all cleared… he just needed to get back to his own bed. He missed that bed of his. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Charlie answered, as Emilia supported him, allowing him to put his weight on her in just the right way, so that it did not hurt as much to walk. Hermione had not even quenched his pain that well on the way from the Romanian Experimentation Lab to Charlie's own flat. Emilia may have been an animal doctor, but she seemed to know how to take care of people as well.

"Let's set you up on the couch," Emilia said, knowing the couch would spare Charlie from walking very far.

"I want my bed," Charlie protested. "It's not too much further away."

"Okay," Emilia whispered, giving Charlie some time to settle down. She wanted to hear exactly what had happened, but for now, she was happy that he was home. That was good enough for her.

The two walked silently over to the bedroom, with Bill, Hermione, and Vasile following slowly behind them. Charlie stumbled briefly along the way, but the walk was much easier than before with Emilia's help.

Emilia carefully guided Charlie into his bed, lifting the sheets and lifting him up carefully onto the bed. Once he was settled, Emilia pushed the sheets on top of him, tucking him in.

Emilia then pulled up a spare chair and sat down beside Charlie. She held onto his hand, just like he held onto her hand at St. Mungos. She didn't want to let go, and all she could concentrate on while Hermione concocted potions and twisted her wand, was making sure that Charlie's heart held a steady rate and that he wasn't in too much pain.

He didn't pay much attention to anything either, finally feeling comfortable enough to close his eyes, something that he hadn't done in nearly three days. As he did, he made sure that he was still touching Emilia. That touch allowed him that comfort.

As soon as Hermione finished healing Charlie, Emilia wanted to know exactly what had happened. She wanted details, but she also didn't want to disturb Charlie. Leaving the room was out of the question, so she had to wait until Charlie woke up. Hermione said he would probably sleep for a couple of hours because of the medicine she gave him. Though he suffered from lack of sleep, being sick always caused him to wake up after only a short amount of sleep, so after only some two hours, he was awake again.

When he woke up, he immediately pushed himself up. He did want to talk, and he wanted to keep his eyes on Emilia. He didn't want to have to see her disappear again. He'd miss her too much.

Emilia watched him sit up in the bed and she automatically wanted to tell him to stay still; to keep rested. But she remembered not so long ago when she was in his position, where she wanted to sit up, and he didn't want her to. She decided to let him do as he wished. He knew what was right for his body.

"Thank you," Charlie whispered, somewhat crackly in his voice. His mouth was extremely dry. "I heard you helped save me."

"Do you need some water?" Emilia asked, ignoring Charlie. She was completely attuned to his needs. She was going to help him get better because she was the one that left him.

His head slowly bobbed up and down. Hermione jumped to the occasion, rushing to help out. She quickly ran to the kitchen and ran back with a glass of water. She handed it to Charlie, and Charlie took a quick sip of water, satisfying his throat of the need.

"Thank you," Charlie said to Hermione. Hermione just smiled.

"What exactly happened?" Emilia was patient enough. Now that Charlie was better, she wanted to know what he had gone through. She wanted to know how he was rescued, and she wanted to know what the resolution was.

"You were brilliant," Charlie said, focusing on just Emilia. "That article you wrote saved me. Bill told Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister, about it, and he automatically set up a group of Aurors to rescue me. Bill slipped word about what was going on to my father yesterday, and Shacklebolt had heard about it, but he couldn't do anything without proof. The picture and your article was enough proof for him, so the team came and rescued me. Hermione and Bill came along as well of course and brought me here."

"What did James do to you?" Emilia was concerned. Charlie didn't look well, even now after he had been treated. Emilia wasn't sure she was prepared for what Charlie had to say, but she knew she had to hear it. She had to know what Charlie had been through."

"James has been taken into custody," Charlie said, diverting the question at hand. He didn't want anyone to know about what had happened, least of all Emilia. Though Charlie knew Voldemort was worse of a torturer, Charlie knew he would have nightmares for awhile about how James treated him. "He might even be sent to Azkaban, the wizarding jail. He's been at least fired from his position. The experimental organization's been shut down and Linnie and her baby most definitely are going to be allowed to stay here. Shacklebolt said he'll appoint someone new to run the place. I was worried they'd shut it down or do something worse, but it looks as if it'll be a happy ending. I'll be able to return soon to do what I love as well."

"Not too soon," Emilia said, continuing to hold onto Charlie. She wasn't sure what the future held, but she knew she wanted to spend it with Charlie. She had become a different person when Charlie came into her life, and she liked that different person. She was happy… happy and in love. "You still need to get some rest."

"I'll be fine," Charlie said. "Wizard healing doesn't take as long as your crappy doctors do."

"I'd be careful about saying that around me," Emilia fought. "I take offense to that."

"Did I hurt your feelings?" Charlie said, though displaying a smirk, one identical to the one on Emilia's face. "I'm sorry. I bet I know what I can do to fix that."

"Oh," Emilia said, "what's that?"

Charlie took Emilia's hand, pulled it closer to him, and eventually kissed it.

"I think we should leave these two lovebirds alone," Bill said, while escorting Hermione and Vasile out of the room.

Emilia immediately retaliated, taking Charlie's hand and planting a kiss straight on the biggest Weasley freckle that was smack dab in the middle of his right hand.

Soon after, Emilia pushed closer, slowly planting kisses up Charlie's arm, eventually leading the way up to his face. When she reached his face, she was drawn to his lips like a magnet, not being able to find away around those lips. It was an immediate lock and the two continued to keep their focus on one another for what seemed like an eternity. When they pulled apart, they knew at least for that one moment that they were the happiest two people in the world.

--

AN: Just a quick word, letting you guys know this is the final chapter of the story. There is an epilogue, which I'll be posting later. Thanks so much for reading this far and I hope you've enjoyed it so far! Sorry I'm terrible at responding to reviews.. I appreciate all of your kind words!


	30. Epilogue

_8 months later…_

"Over here. Quiet. Take small steps and be sure not to make too much noise. I don't want to have to save you again."

"But…"

"Shh..." The stocky man took his pointer finger and pressed it down on the woman's upper lip, so she could not speak. He had trouble keeping her from shutting up lately. The once quiet girl was no longer with him. He had lost her months ago and picked up someone he could share all his deep thoughts with. Someone that he loved.

They moved rhythmically, taking steps at similar intervals and making noises at all of the same points. It was like synchronized swimming, the way they could capture those exact movements. And they made sure to stay close to one another, hidden beneath an Invisibility Cloak.

Minutes later, he stopped, after finding a corner that fit both of their bodies. He led her to the crevice, wrapping her body within his, so that when they sat down, she was able to lean into him. They felt each other's bodies and immediately calmed to relaxation.

"_Lumos_," he whispered, as his wand's tip brought on a light the illuminated the cave fully. "Take it," he said, offering her the wand, so that she could take a look around.

She pointed the wand upwards, and suddenly the scenery was brought to life. The last cave she had been in was over eight months ago, but that was just a brief visit. She had wanted to explore more of the beauty, but she never had had the chance. Now, as she sat atop a rocky surface wrapped in her lover's hands, she could take it all in.

And it was a sight to be seen. From where she was sitting, she could she a lot. It was the perfect spot and she knew he had arranged that. She wouldn't be surprised to hear that he spent several days searching for a spot as perfect as that was. He was just thoughtful like that, especially when it came to her. She didn't deserve him. He was too good to her.

The ceiling height varied by section, some crystal-like rocks leaning down low enough to reach a human head, and some spots coming to a height only a dragon could reach or possibly a wizard on a broom. There was a magnificent array of browns with tips and splatters of white, creating a sparkling presence. But the best treat of all came when the first dragon made his presence known.

He was a fairly small creature, at least small for dragons. He had massive bronze horns and brilliant black scales with bright yellow paralyzing eyes. He was a beautiful, young creature, and Emilia smiled as he flew around, practicing with the flame that his mother was known for. He was disappointed that he couldn't produce such a long flame, but he was still young. He still had time to learn.

"Is that Fred?" Emilia asked, turning to face Charlie. She was impressed at how big he had gotten. She hadn't seen him in about a month, and he had to have doubled.

"That's Fred," Charlie answered, taking advantage of Emilia as she turned around by kissing her cheek. Charlie noticed how good it felt to touch her skin again. He couldn't understand how a month had passed by since they had last seen each other.

"How's our boy doing?" Emilia asked, smiling as she received Charlie's kiss. She had missed him and she had missed Fred.

"He's great," Charlie said of the dragon that had been named after his brother. He had given Emilia the honour of naming Fred because he was the reason that Linnie attacked her patients. He thought she earned the title to name him, and she ended up giving Charlie the greatest honour of all, naming him after his brother. "He's starting to become more independent, leaving his mother more and exploring around more. I'm sure we'll see Linnie in here at some point though. She doesn't let him wander off too far. She's a great mum."

"Talking about babies," Emilia started, "I heard about Victoire. How are the happy parents doing?"

"They're great," Charlie said, taking his hands and wrapping them around Emilia. "They haven't gotten much sleep, but they're happy. Victoire is a beautiful baby. You've got to come meet her. Bill's begging me to bring you by."

Emilia laughed, leaning back into Charlie's grasp. "Yeah, I'm sorry I missed her that one time. You know sometimes emergencies come up, but we're having that dinner in what, a week?"

"Yeah, next weekend," Charlie said. "Bill's preparing everything. He's acting as the stay at home dad right now, and the dinner arrangements are lying on him. There are going to be a lot of people there."

"What?" Emilia asked, sitting up straight, suddenly out of Charlie's reach. "You didn't say there'd be a lot of people there."

"Yeah, my family's all going to be there. Mum, dad, Ron, Percy, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, George. George even has a new girlfriend, one I remember a bit from school, Angelina."

"You know I don't do well in crowds of people." Emilia was worried. "And it's your family. I don't want to…"

"Shh…" Charlie interrupted. "Look at me," he said, as Emilia turned to face him. Her worried eyes face him, and she grew anxious. "Put that brow down and stop worrying. My family loves you. You know you won over Bill and Hermione a long time ago and mum and dad loved you when they met you at Christmas."

Emilia laughed, but she still didn't relax. "Oh god, Christmas," she muttered, recalling how she made a fool of herself. It was like everything was wrong with her then. She couldn't even explain simple Muggle things to Charlie's father correctly. And anytime Molly actually accepted her help in the kitchen, she ruined thing, spilled things, and botched up recipes. She eventually found herself crying in Charlie's room, where he came with his sweet charm and cheered her up. "That was a disaster."

"They knew you were nervous," Charlie mentioned. Emilia hadn't talked about it for awhile. She was too embarrassed and afraid at first of how Charlie would perceive her now. "And they thought you were cute. My mum said not to let you go. She likes you. She's taken to you much better than she did to Fleur."

"But your mum loves Fleur."

"Not at first. Not even really until Fleur said she was pregnant." Emilia relaxed a bit, falling into Charlie's arms again, but she still was not too sure about the confrontation. She was looking forward to meeting Victoire and seeing Bill again, but the whole family made her nervous. She could easily screw things up. "Don't worry. You'll be fine, and even you're not, that doesn't change my opinion on you. I love you, Emilia."

That wasn't the first time Charlie had said that to her, but each time he said it – three times now – it reassured her. It made her feel like this relationship was real. It was easy to forget since they lived three million miles away from each other, but when she heard him say something like that, she knew the distance didn't matter. When he said he loved her, she could hear his heart talking.

"I love you too," Emilia said confidently, knowing it was the truth. She had never felt this way about any boy before, even of the furry variety. It was love. She loved Charlie Weasley.

She turned her head around, getting a picture of Charlie's bright, handsome face, before she pressed her lips against his. She felt the softness of his wide lips, the curve of his tongue, and she realized she was the luckiest woman. She couldn't understand how a guy like Charlie could be attracted to her, but she never questioned it. She had his love and she loved him. She couldn't be happier.

The two pulled apart and as they did so, a flicker of a motion appeared in Charlie's right eye. He glanced his eyes in the direction and suddenly noticed that it was Linnie passing by.

"Look," Charlie said as he pointed to the valiant Hungarian Horntail.

Emilia's eyes lifted to face the creature and sheer beauty flashed before her eyes. It flashed a memory of when she and Charlie first shared a kiss together. That moment was wonderful, but she was glad to be out of that awkward part of the relationship. Now their moments together were pure bliss.

"Wow," Emilia muttered. "Beautiful."

"You're a changed woman, aren't you?" Charlie said. "A couple of months ago you would've been frightened and you would've hated her. Now she's beautiful?"

"I'm still not her biggest fan," Emilia said. "But she's grown on me. You've been a big influence."

"I s'pose I have."

The two continued to watch, as Linnie kept her eye on Fred, flying behind him, but not flying close enough for him to be completely aware of her presence. She was an overprotective mother, but it was sweet. It was nice just knowing that Linnie was free to do whatever she pleased.

"This is a perfect date," Emilia whispered to Charlie, as Fred flew a particularly strong breath of fire, trying to break down a rock barrier. Some of the rock crumbled, but there was relatively little damage. Emilia could interpret the frustration in Fred's eyes. He couldn't quite compete with his mother… not yet.

"You're an easy woman to please, my dear," Charlie said. "Isn't there something else you'd like to do?"

"I'm content," Emilia answered. "I've got you, and I've got dragon watching. Simple works best for me." Emilia then thought about what she said. "Okay, well relatively simple."

Charlie laughed. "I think I've found the perfect woman. Someone who finally understands me."

"The women you work with don't understand you?" Emilia asked. She had always been a bit worried because she knew he worked with a few women, but she never had asked.

"They're not like you," Charlie said. "I love seeing your reactions to the dragons, and your thoughts. They've grown up with this, and it's a simple fact of life. They don't appreciate them like you have, and I've especially noticed it since I've started managing them."

As soon as James and the others were arrested for their illegal operations, Charlie became the head of the dragon taming department, while Vasile became head of the entire organization. Work was much simpler with Vasile in charge and with Charlie in control of the dragon tamers.

"So I shouldn't be worried, I guess," Emilia reasoned. She wasn't really worried, but it was nice to know his opinion.

"Not at all," Charlie said.

The two sat back, resting with each other. Emilia was relaxed, realizing that this date reminded her of the one time she had been to the beach, but this was much better. She loved the beach, but there were people staring at her, analyzing her, and she didn't like that. Charlie was the only one looking at her now, and she didn't mind it when he looked at her.

"How's Hermione's project going?" Emilia asked.

"I'm not sure," Charlie said. "I haven't talked to her for awhile. Last I heard she was doing well." Hermione had been put in charge of finding an alternate having a dragon protect the Gringott's vault. She added dragon rights to her SPEW frontier and she began to work with Charlie and Vasile to make the Romanian reserve a better place for the dragons. "Ron's going to propose soon."

"Wow," Emilia said. "They're so young."

"They're in love," Charlie said. "I think they have been for awhile."

"Well, that's sweet. I'm glad they're happy."

"Yeah," Charlie said.

Charlie hesitated, allowing the conversation to die. He had been planning to ask Emilia a question, but he had been having trouble finding the right opportunity. Every time he planned to say something, the nerves got the best of him, and he remained quiet. He hadn't been shy around Emilia for awhile, but now he was.

Fred started working at the rocks again, breathing harder and faster to try to break down the entrance way to another section of the cave. The rock began to dislodge, but much more power was needed for it to eventually break down. Fred was proud however, and he took a momentous flight around the room, as soon as one piece of the rock fell off.

As he did so, Linnie flew towards the rock, making sure that Fred wouldn't see. She breathed a relatively pathetic flame of fire for her, but one strong enough just to almost break down the rock. She flew away before Fred noticed.

Fred eventually came back to the rock and he aimed a speck of fire in that direction. To his surprise, the rock came apart completely and the barrier he had been fighting against disappeared. He gleefully flew through, almost flying a flight of triumph.

Charlie and Emilia laughed, amused by the young dragon.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Charlie finally said, causing Emilia to focus on him again, while Fred explored the rest of the cave. "Do you want to move to Romania?"

"What?" Emilia asked, not expecting the question.

"I love you, Emilia," Charlie said. "And I can't keep doing this long distance thing. You know that I can't move to Newberry. There's not always a dragon problem there. You like it here anyway. We can work it out living here together. I want you in my life everyday, not just a couple of weekends a month."

"Charlie," Emilia said, backing away from him. "You know I want to, but I can't just leave Newberry. I'm the veterinarian, and I can't just leave my patients… my boss. And what could I do here? I'm not going to be the clueless Muggle here for her boyfriend."

"It's already settled," Charlie said. "I've already talked to Baker and Talia and though they hate to see you go, they understand and Baker's already hired someone to take your place."

"You have this planned already?" Emilia scooted away from Charlie. She didn't like that he had done it all without him. "You talked to my boss before you talked to me?"

"Yeah," Charlie said. "I wanted to get it all settled. I'm also going to help you open a vet clinic here in Romania. You'll be able to work here as well. You won't be a clueless Muggle."

"I wish you would've talked to me about this." Emilia realized that Charlie planned it better than she thought. She was still upset, but at least he had it planned.

"I'm sorry," Charlie said, his heart beating heavily, concerned about what he had planned. He didn't expect her to be upset with him. He thought she'd like what he had done. He hadn't expected her to be so hesitant about it. "But I was anxious. It hurts me every time I have to say goodbye to you, and I didn't want to have to wait for much longer."

"How long would it be until I'd move in?" Emilia asked.

That was encouraging to Charlie. Did that mean that Emilia was warming up to the idea? "Two weeks," Charlie said. "That would allow you to pack, help train the new vet, and to say goodbye."

"And I'd have my own clinic?" Emilia hesitantly asked.

"Yep," Charlie answered. "It's all worked out."

"Where would I live?"

"With me of course," Charlie said. "But if that's too much for you, I'm sure I can find a place near me that's available."

"No," Emilia said. "I'd love that. I want to move in with you. I think I'm ready."

"Really?" Charlie asked, a smile forming on his face.

"Yeah," Emilia answered. "I'm going to do it. I'm going to take a risk in my life."

"You won't regret it," Charlie said, his face full of joy. "I love you, Emilia."

"And I, you, Charlie Weasley."


End file.
